First Date
by How-I-Lost-Your-Respect
Summary: Raven has finally agreed to go out with Beast Boy. The story follows the first date, and later events as their relationship develops. UPDATE: 8/06/2011 Chapter 19 added
1. The Invite

Hello all. Hopefully the writing process goes properly with this one, let's hope chapter 2 works out correctly. Chapter two is the date! (There will be a sequel to this story after chapter two is done. I'm making it a separate one because it will be lemon. Don't act like it's a spoiler, this is a BBRAE story lol)

And does anyone know if it's legal to own a giraffe in the United States? Like privately own one?

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Raven awoke with a quiet groan as she stretched, clothed in a lacy black bra and matching panties. She normally slept in much more modest garb, but the sweltering summer heat had everyone dressing lighter. A thin hand traced up her pale form, brushing against her soft bosom and extending above her head as she stretched. She rolled over in bed onto her side and brought one leg up over the other, feeling her smooth thighs brush against each other. She pushed her balled up fists against her eyes, rubbing her drowsiness out and yawned. The pale empath pushed her sheets off and swung her legs over the side of the bed, testing the ground with the balls of her feet. Her toes brushed against her blue uniform boots as she pushed herself off of the bed, taking slow, stumbling steps towards her bathroom.

When she entered her bathroom and flicked on the lights, she turned on the tap and let the water run. She looked up at her reflection in the mirror, and turned her head to one side and then the other, checking for blemishes or acne. Finding none and being satisfied, she ran her fingers through her violet hair, which she had been maintaining at shoulder length. She brushed the strands of hair out of her face and cupped her hands in the sink, filling them up with water and scrubbing her face gently, washing her face in the cool water to wake up.

Beast Boy was hunched over with his head in the refrigerator as she entered the kitchen. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a grey pair of boxers that seemed to have Snoopy printed all over them. Even at 18, the green titan had a child like air about him, despite having matured much over the years. He straightened out and stepped back from the refrigerator, holding in his hands a half empty can of Sprite and a Boca burger from the previous night's dinner. Walking away from the refrigerator and leaving the door open for Raven, he spoke a simple "morning" to her as she passed him on the way to the fridge. He sat down on the sofa and flipped on their enormous television and sprawled out across the couch, sipping his soda, which by now had lost most of its carbonation.

"Looking forward to tonight?" he called out casually without diverting his attention from the screen.

"Dreading it, rather. You're not as charming as you think you are, Garfield," Raven monotonously replied, not turning from the fridge as she rummaged for an apple.

Raven had finally agreed to go out with Beast Boy, and tonight was their first date. It didn't happen immediately however. In fact, it took Beast Boy a solid week of tenacious begging and bargaining. At first she would just sigh and nonchalantly rebuff his advances. She eventually broke down, agreeing to go out with him as she saw no clear end to his attempts if she would not say yes. It's not as though she found him unappealing, but the whole concept of dating always repelled her.

The pale youth sat down on the couch next to him and crossed one leg over the other, biting into her apple, and stared up at the television, which was set to the morning news broadcast.

Robin entered the room, hair messy and unkempt. It was what Beast Boy crudely called 'sex hair', ever the one for immature humor. The boy wonder wore a white shirt and simple red athletic shorts, as well as a pair of socks, one of which was bunched up on his foot and almost falling off. He mumbled bitterly to himself, spying the empty coffee pot on the marble countertop.

Glaring in the direction of the two teens on the couch, he flatly remarked "Thank you two for starting a pot of coffee for everyone." Receiving no reply to his sarcasm from his teammates, he swore under his breath and shuffled over to the cabinets to retrieve a coffee filter and a bag of their morning blend, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he went.

Starfire was the next to enter the commonroom, wearing a floral tank top and a pair of white shorts, cut high to show off her legs. She hovered over to the boy wonder and gave him a cheerful good morning kiss.

Although her bubbly, free spirited and cheerful nature was welcomed by her fellow titans, being the only 'morning person' in the tower tended to grind a bit on everyone's nerves.

Starfire took two hard boiled eggs from the refrigerator and carefully removed the shell, scrutinizing over the most minuet shards of the white encasing. Robin smiled as he watched her, finding her unusual attention to detail rather cute.

Cyborg stepped into the commons shortly thereafter, looking as he normally did. He did not have any physical signs of drowsiness, as he had very body that was not machine. Only the human half of his face betrayed how tired he was, a dark bag formed under his eye. The smell of the newly brewed coffee reached his nose and he shuffled over to the counter, grabbing a mug and pouring into it a generous cup of his morning pick up.

"Can you believe I only got twelve hours of sleep last night?" he called out to no-one in particular. "I'm gonna be a zombie all day."

Beast Boy looked back at his automaton friend from the couch.

"I feel you, broheim. I only got fourteen or so."

"How the hell do you find fourteen hours a day to sleep?" Raven quipped. Beast Boy crossed his arms and frowned at her.

"How many hours do YOU get a night then," he pouted.

"Eight hours. Like a _normal _person," she said as she scowled at him, taking a large bite out of her apple.

Beast Boy frowned and slouched down in his seat, staring back at the T.V. "Eight hours.. that's barbaric," he mumbled. Raven rolled her eyes and chose to ignore his comment.

Starfire floated over to the couch with a bright purple mug filled with coffee. She also carried with her a large container of creamer, and seven or eight packets of sugar. The titans looked up at her as she approached, inwardly laughing. Starfire hated coffee, but she wanted to fit in with her friends, so she drowned out the taste with cream and sugar.

"You don't have to drink it you know, Star," Robin laughed, putting an arm around her.

"But it is customary for one to drink the coffee in the morning! I do not wish to seem strange!" she said matter-of-factly, nodding to accentuate her point.

Cyborg looked over at Raven and grinned. "So you and the grass stain are hitting the town tonight?"

Raven looked up at him and gave him a cold glare. "What I do with my life is none of your business, Victor."

Cyborg cringed. Whenever Raven called him by his real name, she was usually not in the mood for his commentary. He had pushed her past her limits before, and he still had the scars as a reminder. He nervously scooted further down the couch, away from Raven, who inwardly smirked.

Robin turned down the volume on the TV so that she could hear him clearly. "Really though, Raven. You two be careful tonight. Any one of our enemies would love to have a shot at you two, separated from the team and vulnerable."

Beast Boy crushed his Sprite can in his palm, tossing it over his shoulder in the direction of their recycling bin. "Relax, dude. Raven and I can handle anything any of those super-baddies can throw at us. Don't have to worry about us. And besides, we hardly ever have to save the city these days. That's why we've had the opportunity to take time off and get jobs, dude."

Robin sighed, not wanting to be a hard-nose. "Just keep on your toes. You can get a little bit careless, Beast Boy."

The changeling waved the comment away and turned the volume back up on the TV, starting to flip through the channels, having grown bored of the news.

"Well.. this is turning out to be a slow day so far," he commented. "I'm really bored already."

"That's because you have the attention span of a hummingbird.." Raven stated, cocking her head to the side and turning a page in her book, not looking up at him, but showing a hint of a smile at her comment.

"Not all of us can be content with sitting around all day with a book, madam."

"Some of us can pay attention to things for more than 30 consecutive seconds."

Cyborg laughed. "Raven you're on fire today."

Still not looking up, she beamed. "Reading sharpens one's mind." She looked up at Beast Boy. "Maybe you should give it a try, Beast Boy."

The green teen sunk down in his seat and sulked. "You can be really hurtful for no reason, Raven," he complained.

Robin walked over to the kitchen and put his mug in the sink, turning on the water and wiping it down.

"Alright, gang. I'm going to work."

Starfire floated over to him and hugged his neck tightly. "Will you be home for dinner?"

Robin gave her a blank look. "You're not.. not cooking.. are you?"

She laughed, hugging him again. "My cooking is not that bad, Robin."

He hugged her in return and chuckled nervously. "I know, love. Just.. asking out of curiosity." He grabbed the keys to his cycle out of the bowl on the front table and stepped out of the door, locking it behind him.

Beast Boy checked his watch. His date wasn't for several hours. He glanced over at Raven, who didn't seem concerned about it. He stood up off the couch, and headed out of the room, brushing Raven's hair as he passed. She frowned and turned to say something, but decided against it, watching him walk out. She turned back to her book, bemused.

"_Tonight will be interesting," _she thought to herself.

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yeah.


	2. The Date

I'm listening to 'First Date.' HAHAHA I'm so freaking clever. Like.. the song has the same name as the story! Oh God that's freaking hilarious. Ahhh. Yeah. DATE TIME WOOOOOOOOO

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Beast Boy retired to his room and spent the remainder of the day getting ready for his date. He had been out with other girls before, but none that he liked as much as Raven. There was something different about her that set her apart from other girls. Beast Boy figured it was she was much more intelligent than other girls he had gone out with before, and as such he was somewhat frightened that she wouldn't find him as charming.

He had spent a lot of the day trying to remember where he had put his collared shirts, as he rarely found need for them. He had found a few in the back of his closet and despaired over them being wrinkled. He hated ironing clothes.

"_But," _he thought to himself, "_Raven is worth looking nice for."_

The shirt he found was a red, long sleeved button up with stripes running up and down the length of it. He rolled the sleeves up below his elbows, wanting to look nice but not overly formal. He decided to wear a pair of thin black jeans and, as he had no real dress shoes, settled for his cleanest pair of converse, inwardly cursing himself for not owning something nicer.

The changeling wondered what to do with his hair, and eventually just decided to comb through it and hope for the best, as his hair was somewhat wild. It was mainly because he wore his hair shaggy lately, but he figured the best he could do was comb it for tonight.

He had showered three times in the past five hours, but he was still paranoid about how he smelled. He decided that the best route to go would be to wear a bit of cologne. While he did not have any of his own, he knew that Robin kept some on his sink for the occasional classy date with Starfire.

Punching in the code to Robin's door, he stepped into the spotlessly clean room and looked around. He always felt nervous about being in Robin's room, as the stark contrast to his room was startling. Robin was a neat freak and did not like for other people to touch his belongings, and as such he didn't usually let Beast Boy into his room. In fact, the only reason he knew the door combination was because he bribed Cyborg for it.

He stepped into Robin's bathroom and flicked on the light, walking over to the sink and finding his bottle of cologne resting neatly by his toothbrush. He gave himself a couple sprays and quickly left, hoping that the boy wonder wouldn't notice that he was there.

Feeling as prepared as he possibly could be, Beast Boy sat down on the edge of his bed when he went back to his room and waited for their date to start.

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Raven looked over herself in the mirror for the second time that day. She sighed, turned around and propped herself up on her bathroom sink. This was her first date in a long time, and she had no idea what she should wear. She didn't really own anything that formal, so she decided that she should just dress in something fairly casual.

Going to her dresser, she looked through her drawers for something that would look nice. She decided on a short red dress that ended high on her thighs, and a pair of black leggings. She slipped on a pair of red Chucks and walked over to her mirror, twirling around slowly to get the full effect. Deciding that she should do something different with her hair, she pulled her hair into a low ponytail, holding it with a thin black band, leaving a few strands hanging in her eyes.

For a reason she wasn't sure of, she was nervous for tonight. It seemed somewhat unusual, going out with a team mate. She wondered if Beast Boy was as nervous as she was. But wait, why was she nervous? Because she was going out with Beast Boy? He was immature and still laughed at children's jokes. What would she be worried about? It was just a date with the green smear. She shook the thoughts out of her head, not wanting to space out and lose track of time.

She looked at her wall clock and, seeing that she had a little while before her date officially started, decided to meditate to calm her nerves. Closing her eyes and sitting down cross legged, she gently lifted off of the ground and started chanting her mantra.

"Azarath.. metrion.. zinthos... azarath.. metrion.. zinthos.."

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Twenty minutes later, Beast Boy was walking down the hallway to Raven's room, wringing his hands as he got closer. He was about to knock when he stopped, hearing her talking through her door. He pressed his ear against the cold steel sliding door and heard her chanting. He sighed, gathering up his courage, and knocked gingerly on the door.

"Raven? You ready?" he called.

Inside, Raven took a deep breath to calm herself, and unfolded her legs, standing up and walking over to the entrance to her room, and pressed the button, causing the door to slide open where Beast Boy was waiting for her with a nervous smile.

"Hi there," he said clearing his throat. "Wow.. Raven you look.. Wow."

She looked down at herself and back at him. "Wow good or wow bad?" she asked suspiciously.

Beast Boy looked her over up and down, tearing his gaze from her legs and looking her in the eye. "Wow good," he nodded, causing the corners of her mouth to turn up in a trace of a smile.

"So.. Where are we going?" Raven asked.

Beast Boy dangled his keys in front of her and grinned. "You'll see!"

Raven shut her door behind her and followed him down the hall. "Is it going to be something I'll hate?"

Beast Boy laughed. "Yeah, probably."

As they exited the tower, he held the door open for her and she waited for him as he locked up the tower.

"Don't wanna accidentally leave it unlocked. Robin will kill me. You know how he is. Control freak, paranoid.. It's a wonder Star puts up with him," he joked.

"So come on, tell me where we're going," Raven whined.

He smiled. "Follow me." And with that, he turned into a raven, taking off into the sky.

Raven lifted off the ground and flew after him, following shortly in his wake. He turned his bird head back and took a quick glance to make sure she was following close, then picked up speed, flying over the city.

Raven opened up a mental link between the two of them so they could stay in contact. She didn't say much aside from informing him of the mental link, to which he confirmed it. She could feel his exhilaration as they climbed higher into the sky, high into the clouds, with nothing but the moon and the stars around them.

Raven looked down on the buildings of Jump City, admiring the city lights.

_"Enjoying the view?" _Beast Boy's voice came to her in her mind.

"_I've never really noticed how the city looks at night," _she replied. "_It's lovely."_

Beast Boy flapped his wings and dipped lower, doing somersaults as he slowly descended towards the ground. Raven rolled her eyes and followed him, flying lower. She opened up their mental link again.

"_You're just showing off."_

She heard him laugh nervously in her head. "_Can't guy enjoy the freedom of being a bird?"_

She snorted mentally.

They landed down in a back part of the city, far from the streets and the noise of the city life. Raven looked around, having not been to this part of the city before.

"What is this?"

Beast Boy pointed to the sign on the roof of the building, lit up by flood lights pointed at it. The sign read 'Bliss.'

"What's this?"

Beast Boy smiled at her. "Best vegan restaurant in town!" he stretched his arms to accentuate his point.

Raven gave him a blank stare and raised an eyebrow in a questioning look.

Beast boy grinned sheepishly and scratched his head. "Oh c'mon. Give it a chance, Rae, you might like it!"

She sighed and walked towards the restaurant. "Alright. I'll eat some of your lawnmower food. But only if you promise not to call me Rae," she said, giving him a stern look.

He held open the door for her. "Er.. you got it."

She stepped in before him, thanking him politely for holding open the door. She looked around inside the restaurant, deciding that the decor was acceptable, the restaurant having some of a homey feel to it.

Beast Boy stepped over to the seating wait list and signed 'Logan, party of two' onto it. About fifteen minutes later, they were seated and Raven was looking over the menu, confused over some of the items on it.

"Beast Boy, I'm not sure that all of this is edible.. what is this?" she asked, pointing to an item on the menu.

"That's couscous.. it's kind of ethnic food. It's pretty good, you might like it," he said, trying to help.

"I'm not sure I'll like any of this.." Raven grumbled. She sighed and eventually just decided on a mixed salad, knowing it would be a safe item to get.

When their waiter came by and asked for their order, Beast Boy asked him to just bring a couple of mixed salads and glasses of tea.

"So Beast Boy," Raven started. "Do you mind being a vegetarian? I think I would get tired of it after a while."

He shrugged. "It's not too bad. You get to the point where meat just is horribly unappealing. It makes me nauseous to see some of the things Cyborg eats. Plus, it's a nice feeling knowing you're not eating animals that you've transformed into on a regular basis."

When their food came they kept a casual conversation going, but it was mostly small talk as Beast Boy had informed her that they would be doing something else after dinner, and she, despite herself, was anxious to find out what it was. She finished eating quickly and sat with her hands in her lap, looking towards the door quite often and avoiding Beast Boy's gaze whenever he looked at her.

He smirked. "Raven, you seem anxious to leave."

"Huh? Oh.. well what gave you that idea?" she asked, looking towards the door again.

He grinned widely. "You're looking forward to the surprise aren't you Raven?"

She scowled at him again for the umpteenth time that night, rolling her eyes and avoided looking at him, pouting like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Beast Boy put his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin, waving down the waiter.

"Can we have the check please?" he asked when the waiter came over to their table.

The waiter looked at the two of them sitting at the table and smiled. "May I say it was my pleasure to serve two have served the city so well in the past. And as you can imagine, saving the city does entitle you to a few 'I owe you one's!' Forget about the check, just get out of here you two, don't worry about the bill," he said.

Beast Boy grinned at Raven, wiggling his eyebrows and giving her a thumbs up. She frowned and turned to the waiter, telling him "We appreciate it sir, but it wouldn't be right." Beast Boy chuckled and pulled out his wallet, handing the waiter his debit card. "She's right, we couldn't."

"Are you sure? I don't think anyone would object to it," the man said, grasping the small plastic card but not leaving.

Beast Boy laughed and pushed the card towards him. "I don't think my date would let me even if I wanted to, sir."

"Alright, if you insist, sir." He took the card and walked off, returning a few moments later and returning the card.

The two stood up and pushed in their chairs, thanking the staff as they left. They stepped out into the night, and Raven turned to her green companion.

"Well, _sir_," she said, mocking the way he was treated in the restaurant. "What is this big surprise? I'm tired of you keeping me in the suspense."

Beast Boy simply smiled and transformed into a raven again, taking off into the night sky. Raven grunted in frustration and took off after him, speeding up and quickly catching up to him. Through their mind link, she told him "_I'm not sure I like you doing that."_

_"Sorry, but you were the one who was anxious to find out where we were going!" _he told her in return. She heard the grin in his voice.

"_Hmph."_

Beast Boy soared higher, as he did earlier that night, and he burst through the clouds. Raven looked up and saw his preen feathers, reflecting a brilliant emerald color in the moonlight. She smiled to herself, thinking about his eyes, the same shade of green as his feathers were now. She caught herself thinking about his eyes, and felt a bit of warmth in her cheeks. She blinked the thought away and cleared her mind, focusing solely on following the little green bird in front of her, leading her to locations unknown.

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When they were past the city limits, Beast Boy slowly started his descent, heading towards a scenic look out on a hill. It was one of those traditional look outs, ones that teenagers drove up to in movies to make out or have sex in the back seat. But it was deserted, and Beast Boy transformed while he was still above the ground, transforming into his lanky teen self before he hit the ground, and landed with a running stop, almost stumbling at the end on the loose gravel. As Raven slowly floated down next to him, he extended his hand to help her down. She took it and lowered herself onto the ground, the gravel making a soft crunch under her shoes.

Raven looked around at the moonlit hill, and saw Beast Boy walking over to the ledge. He sat down on the edge of the hill, and dangled his legs off, patting the ground next to him, indicating that Raven come over too.

Raven slowly walked over, brushing off the ground before she sat down next to him, crossing one leg over the other and looking at him. She saw him looking forward and matched his gaze, looking out and catching her breath in her throat. She saw what he was looking at; it was Jump City, and the city lights looked even more magnificent from there than they had from above. It was made even better by the fact that they were far from the sounds of the city, the hustle and bustle of the people and the sound of cars whizzing past.

"_It's beautiful," _she softly breathed out.

Beast Boy turned to her and smiled. "Yeah. It is, isn't it." She was enraptured by the beauty of the city, her eyes twinkling with life, not noticing as he stared at her.

He quietly admired her soft features, the way the moon lit up her pale skin and the way that the night air gently tossed her bangs across her face. His hand slowly slid across the grassy part of the hill they sat on, and his fingers touched hers. She flinched and broke her gaze away from the city lights, looking down at his fingers. Beast Boy quickly withdrew his hand, apologizing profusely.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Accident, Rae, I swear, don't toss me off the hill, I just got the feeling back in my legs from the last time you threw me off of something!" he flinched preemptively, recoiling in fear.

He opened his eyes when he felt her fingers touch his again. He saw her fingers slowly slide over his hand and entwine in his fingers. He looked up and saw her looking down, face a light pink, made easily visible in contrast to her pale skin.

"It's okay," he heard her say, a shy smile playing at her lips as her eyes met his.

He blushed darkly, the color of his skin and the bright red blush clashing, which made Raven giggle quietly. The two of them then looked back and admired the moon in silence, enjoying each other's presence.

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The two landed on the roof of the Tower, deciding to go in a different way so as not to wake up their fellow titans. They crossed the expansive cement surface that made up the roof, and headed over to the doorway leading downstairs. As Beast Boy unlocked the door to the stairs, Raven smiled to herself and reached out slowly, taking his hand. He started and turned back to see her smiling at him. He smiled back, blushing brightly for the second time that night. He led her by the hand through the doorway and locked the door behind them, trying the handle to make sure it was locked properly before starting down the stairs with her.

The two teens walked down the hallway to Raven's room, where they stopped outside her door. Raven turned to him and smiled.

"I've never seen you smile this much before, Raven.. I think I like it," Beast Boy playfully said, grinning.

Raven looked away to hide her smile and playfully pushed him, leaning her back against her door. Beast Boy approached her again, and lowering his voice, asked, "So.. did you hate tonight as much as you thought you would?"

Raven looked down at her shoes, and then up at the green changeling in front of her. "It.. wasn't _that _bad," she smirked.

He looked down at his shoes as well, smiling back at her as he turned to leave.

"Well.. night, Raven."

"Where are you going?" she called after him.

"Hm?" he asked, turning around.

"You.. forgot something," she smiled timidly.

Walking back over to her, he stopped and raised his eyebrows in question. "What did I forget?"

Gathering up her courage, Raven gently laid her hands on his shoulders, and, standing on her toes to be tall enough, gently pressed her lips against his.

Beast Boy's eyes widened, and his body tensed, before relaxing and carefully snaking his hands around her waist, kissing her back softly. She gently moved her lips against his, kissing him passionately, but no tongue. Not yet.

After what seemed like an eternity, she drew back and leaned back on her heels, blushing brightly, hands still on the boy's shoulders. "Well.. goodnight.." she said, her smile very visible now, and her cheeks bright red. She let her bangs fall into her face to try and hide her eyes, giggling quietly as she closed the door to her room behind her.

Beast Boy stood in the hall, feeling his skin tingling. He swayed slightly before catching himself and regaining his balance. He touched his lips with his hand and a smile spread across his lips as he staggered back to his room. It had been a good night.

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Well, that's the first date! What do you guys think? Chapter three is on the way, don't worry! But please Read and Review, reviews are my lifebloooddddddd -leeches on your comments and thoughts-

Lemme know what you thought guys, chapter three probably won't be out as quick as this one was, but I'll make itworth your wait! Hope you liked this chapter, stay posted for chapter three, probably four, I feel like I could write with this story for a while :)


	3. Keeping it Secret

Alright, chapter 3, let's kick it. Incidentally, PLEASE READ MY AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. I HAVE A SERIOUS DECISION TO MAKE ABOUT THE STORY AND IT NEEDS READER INPUT. Cheers.

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Beast Boy's eyes opened slowly as the sun shone in his face through his cracked blinds. He stretched and inwardly kicked himself for not having closed them. Grumbling and swearing, he got out of bed and shut his blinds, jumping back onto the bed and hugging his pillow tight as he tried to go back to sleep. He had been having the best dream, why did he have to wake up?

In his dream, he had finally gotten Raven to go out with him, and at the end of the night she had given him a ki-

Beast Boy's head shot off of his pillow and he sat up in bed, rigid. He had noticed the shirt he wore from the previous night hanging off of a chair in his room, and he could still smell the cologne on himself.

"Oh my God! That was real!" He fell back in bed, staring in disbelief at the ceiling. After a moment and composing himself, he did a victory dance while lying on his back. "Go Beast Boy! Woo!" He pumped his arms and kicked his legs up in the air.

He jumped out of bed, and continued his dance throughout his room, shimmying and shaking. He happily walked over to his dresser and opened up the drawers, finding no clean clothes. He frowned and turned, looking back at the mountains of dirty clothes in his room.

"Are you kidding me? I have no clean clothes..?" he sighed. "I hate having to do a wash.."

Scowling and looking throughout his room, Beast Boy dug through piles of clothes, not finding anything that was not dirtied. Deciding his best bet in the situation was to wear the least dirty thing he could find, and dug down to the bottom of the pile, finding a t shirt and a wrinkled pair of shorts.

"Good enough!" He slipped them on and exited his room, carrying in his arms his laundry hamper, stacked high with a high hill of dirty laundry and old clothes. He stumbled through the halls to the laundry chute and dumped everything down it. When it jammed up the chute, he leaned his weight against the enormous load and pushed it through to the laundry room downstairs. Feeling pleased with himself, he brushed off his hands and strolled into the common room.

It was fairly late in the morning, so when he entered the room, everyone was already up and having breakfast.

"Morning Beast Boy," Robin called from his seat at the table, eating a plate of scrambled eggs and reading the morning newspaper. Starfire sat next to him and waved at Beast Boy, reading the newspaper over Robin's shoulder.

Cyborg was frying a pan of bacon atop the stove, and greeted Beast Boy with a grin, holding up the pan for him to see.

"Mornin' BB. Want some tasty bacon? Mmm, smells good doesn't it!" he laughed to himself.

"Very funny, Cyborg. Just make me some scrambled eggs."

"Make them yourself, dude, I'm not your maid," Cyborg said, putting his bacon on a plate and going to sit at the table.

Beast Boy was about to retort when he saw Raven sitting on the sofa, sipping a cup of tea. He walked over to her and hugged her.

"Raven! Morning!"

She glared at him and wriggled in his grasp. "Let me go."

Beast Boy's grip on her loosened, and he frowned. "Huh?"

She pushed his arms off and gave him a look he hadn't seen before. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't care right now. Why wasn't he allowed to hug her?

"No hugs? What about last night?" he asked in disbelief.

Raven looked at him, and then at the other Titans who were staring at them, waiting for her answer. She frowned at them and then looked back at Beast Boy. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean. No hugs," she said plainly.

Beast Boy was crushed and confused. Was last night just a fluke? What was going on?

Raven stood up, putting her cup of tea down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"_Follow me." _Beast Boy heard through the mental link that she had opened up yet again.

She walked out of the commonroom, and he followed her in toe, leaving the other titans to giggle around the table.

Raven walked down the hall, continuing for a while, causing Beast Boy to wonder what it was that she wanted. When they reached her room, she stopped and turned to face him.

"Beast Boy, listen.."

He cringed on the inside, expecting hurt feelings, but maintained a placid look.

"I know you're really happy about how last night went, and I really enjoyed myself too.. But I don't know if I want the others to know about my private life and how you and I are doing.. you know. Relationship-wise. I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Oh.. Okay," Beast Boy nodded, confused, but relieved.

She stepped forward and hugged him tightly. "It's not to hurt your feelings, but you understand what I'm saying, right?"

He hugged her back and nodded. "Don't worry, we don't have to let them know. You can make fun of me and I can keep telling you horrible jokes," he laughed.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we can cut back on that too."

He laughed nervously and nodded at her. "Okay. I won't say anything about our date."

Raven turned and started walking down the hall. "Thank you."

Beast Boy turned into a rabbit and bounded down the hall after her, transforming back into his teen self in front of her, blocking her path. "Er.. about the date.."

Raven raised her eyebrows and waited expectantly. "What about it?"

Beast Boy shuffled his feet nervously. "Well.. I mean.. you don't.. usually just have one date when it goes well.. and I was wondering.. if.. you know, like you wanted to go out again."

Raven smiled and rolled her eyes. "You need to watch less TV. It's making you stupid. I already assumed we'd be going out again." And with that she turned and left, heading back into the living room.

Beast Boy stood there and fumbled for words. "Um.. yeah.. Okay so I'll.. just.. ask you whenever.."

She waved as she walked away, not turning back.

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The day went by uneventfully, Robin and Cyborg tried to tease details of the date out of Beast Boy, who wanted to tell them about it, but respected Raven's wishes. Similarly, Starfire gently tried to pry details out of Raven, but was met with cold indifference and silence.

After dinner that evening, Raven stood up from the table and informed everyone that she was going to go to bed. She walked out of the room, leaving the others sitting in silence, waiting for her to leave earshot.

"So, did you manage to get anything out of either of them?" Robin asked, leaning closer to Cyborg and Starfire.

"No, man. Whenever I ask him about it he just shrugs it off and doesn't say anything."

"Friend Cyborg's report is similar to my own. When asked about how the night of the dating went, she merely stared at me," she recalled, shuddering. "Friend Raven rather scares me when she does not wish to talk."

"But we all agree, right? It must have gone really badly if neither of them will talk about it?" Robin pressed on.

Cyborg leaned back, nodding. "Definately. Beast Boy would be bragging about it if it went well." He checked his built in wristwatch, seeing that it was past ten. "Usually he's home by now. He must be out trying to get his mind off of everything. Poor guy."

Starfire looked thoughtful, twirling her long auburn hair around her finger. "I do hope things work out for them." Starfire was always looking out for her friend's best interest, and although Cyborg and Robin took Beast Boy and Raven going out as somewhat of a joke, she secretly did want them to develop a relationship. Although she and Raven did not always get along, she still thought of her like a sister, and she often felt that she would be happier and more open if she had someone else to talk to.

Starfire and Raven actually did talk a bit when they were in private. There were some things that Starfire couldn't talk to others about, things of a serious manner. She went to Raven with these because she knew that, while moody and sarcastic, Raven was a good listener and could offer serious advice without making her feel uncomfortable. Alternatively, Raven didn't often converse with anyone other than Starfire, as up until recently none of the boys were emotionally mature enough to speak to.

Starfire shook her thoughts out of her mind and squeezed Robin's hand. "Robin? Why is it that the two of you think that it went poorly?"

Robin squeezed his girlfriend's hand in return. "Well, what do you think happened? Cyborg's right, Beast Boy is the kiss-and-tell type. I'm sure if it went well he'd be telling us all about it. Guys do talk about stuff like that quite often." Cyborg nodded in confirmation.

"Well," Starfire started, "what if it went well but they do not wish to discuss it? You both know as well as I that Raven likes her privacy."

"I guess, but then why wouldn't she let Beast Boy hug her? Even if she didn't want to talk about it, if they had a good time I'd think they'd talk about it with each other or show some sort of affection."

Starfire shrugged. "Things could be moving slowly. Once more, you two know what Raven is like. Maybe she's not opening herself up to him just yet."

Cyborg grinned widely. "Opening herself up to him!" he burst out laughing.

Robin covered his face with his palm, sighing and shaking his head as Cyborg continued to laugh.

Starfire alternated looking between the two of them. "I do not understand. I have said something funny?"

Robin put his arm around her and smiled nervously. "Er.. it's nothing, Star. Cyborg's just.. laughing at.. something else."

Starfire stared at Cyborg, looking clueless and helpless as she struggled to wrap her mind around what was so funny.

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This chapter was to break up the story from feeling to samey, hope you liked it, more BBxRae fluff to follow.

Now, the question that I had for you guys is rather important as to where the story is going to go. Positive reviews are conducive to good writing, and since the writing is for the reader, I need to know what you guys think.

**Should I go lemon with this story in later chapters?**That's rather important to know what you guys want. I don't know how often people R&R stories with the 'M' tag, because I don't see too many 'M's on here.


	4. Couple

chapter four. Let's do it. my laptop is melting my crotch :( As always, please be sure to read my notes at the bottom ;)

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In the days that followed, Cyborg, Robin and Starfire didn't see much of Beast Boy or Raven. In fact, Cyborg didn't see much of Robin or Starfire either. The two of them spent most of their time together, and lately they had been disappearing together. Cyborg wasn't sure where. Sometimes they would just spend the day in Robin's room, some days they went out for long hours.

Today was no exception, and he sat alone on a kitchen stool, drumming his fingers on the countertop. He sighed. "I really have to get a dog or something. I'm getting tired of being all by my lonesome."

He stood up and walked out of the commonroom. He walked through the halls in search of someone else. Knocking on doors yielded no response, neither did calling out his team mates names.

Exasperated, he cried out, "Where is everyone!?"

In reality, Beast Boy and Raven were not even in the tower. He had offered to take her out for ice cream today, since the summer heat was particularly affecting them today. It was a dry heat in the city, and he suggested that the two of them get something to cool themselves down.

The two of them were walking through the city, deciding a leisurely walk would be best for today. They were in their street clothes, which was usual lately. Raven wore a blue t-shirt and a pair thin black shorts. She also wore her uniform boots, because they matched her shirt and she found them rather comfortable. This amused Beast Boy, who laughed when he first saw her that day.

"What is it?" she had asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Nothing," he grinned. "You're just wearing your uniform boots."

"They're comfortable!" she pouted.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of brown cargo shorts. He kept transforming into a dog and following behind Raven, his long dog tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted and wagged his tail.

She rolled her eyes and continued walking ahead, trying to ignore him. The emerald skinned teen transformed back into his human self and ran after Raven. When he caught up, he nudged her.

"Did you see that?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes, how could I not? I had a green labrador retriever following me, Beast Boy."

"Did you know that dogs can't sweat except through their paws? That's why their tongues hang out. It's a way to keep cool."

She sighed. "Everyone knows that, Beast Boy."

He frowned. "It's interesting! And I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I was making to show you that! That fur is sweltering in this heat!"

She turned to him as they continued down the sidewalk. "You know you didn't have to give me a visual example. You could have just made your point without submitting yourself to heat stroke."

He shook his head. "It's more powerful this way," he said matter-of-factly, nodding his head to accentuate.

She rolled her eyes again.

"You roll your eyes a lot at me, don't you?"

Raven laughed, finding this amusing. "Yes, I do. I'm not the only one though, Beast Boy, your humor is very dry."

He grinned and nudged her. "Well you're smiling _now _aren't you?"

She tried to contain her smile and shoved him. "Come on, let's just hurry up and get ice cream already. I'm dying in this heat."

"Almost there!" he chuckled, wiping beads of sweat off of his brow.

They approached a small little ice cream parlor Beast Boy opened the door for Raven. The little bell on the door tinkled as they entered, giving it a cheesy, but welcoming feel. They stepped inside and immediately felt relief as a gust of air conditioning blew across their faces. Raven smiled, sighing in relief, glad to be out of the heat.

There was obviously a line, as ice cream on a hot day is a seller's market. Raven shifted her weight from foot to foot, reading over the board, trying to decide what flavor of ice cream she wanted. Beast Boy looked over the list too, feeling something on his fingers. He looked down and saw that Raven had slipped her hand into his. He gave her hand a squeeze and saw her smile without looking at him. Her hand was soft and delicate, but she had a firm enough grip to let you know she was there.

When it was their turn in line, Raven pulled Beast Boy by his hand up to the counter.

"Come on, order quick, I'm melting!"

Beast Boy laughed. "I'll have a single scoop of chocolate."

"And a scoop of vanilla for me," Raven piped in.

The fellow scooping their ice cream was a scrawny, redheaded teen with bad acne scars and a few stray chin hairs that he had overlooked while shaving, but he had some very clear blue eyes and a nice smile, and his disposition was more sunny than one would expect. He handed them their cones and rang up their order, passing the two a few napkins as well.

Beast Boy fished around in his pants for his wallet, going through just about every pocket before finally finding it. He fished out a wrinkled five dollar bill and handed it to the man behind the counter, taking Raven's hand again and leading her back outside, weaving through the ocean of human bodies waiting in line to get ice cream.

They stopped when they got outside for a moment to lick their cones. The sun was already taking its toll on the frozen dairy treats, tears of brown and white sliding down the cone.

"Better eat it quick, Raven. Soon you'll just have some vanilla soup in a cone!" he informed her, scarfing down his ice cream quickly. He stopped for a moment and his face contorted in agony, his hands flying to his temples.

"Ahhh! Oh God, God, God, God, brain freeze! Ahhhh!" he stamped his foot and turned around in a circle, squeezing his head.

Raven raised an eyebrow as she watched, standing there awkwardly eating her cone.

When he stopped his dance of pain, he smiled and stuffed the rest of his cone into his mouth, chewing and swallowing, wiping his mouth off on his wrist.

"Classy," Raven commented.

Beast Boy cocked his head and frowned, studying her face.

"What?"

"You've got a little something," he started, reaching his thumb out to the corner of her mouth, "right there," he finished, wiping off a trace of ice cream she had on her face.

She blushed lightly, reaching a hand up to her lips and wiping it. "Um.. thanks," she mumbled.

He licked the ice cream off of his thumb and smiled at her, extending his hand to her again.

She smiled and gently entwined her fingers with his, and they started off down the street again.

"Want to go to the park?" Beast Boy asked, turning towards her.

"Sure," she said, nodding in confirmation.

It was only a few blocks walk to the park, so they decided to walk instead of fly there. Besides, the two of them had just planned a relaxing day together, and Raven had wanted to spend it outside. Although to get out of the tower was a separate issue. They left fairly early in the day, before Starfire and Robin did, so they had to deal with their questioning too. They had to leave the tower at separate times, each giving a different excuse so as not to arouse suspicion.

There were a lot of people at the park today, sitting on blankets, having picnics, playing frisbee, jogging, playing football, making out under trees. It was a beautiful day, so it wasn't unexpected that the park drew a crowd.

The two teens walked hand in hand down the pathway that led through the park. Children ran past them, laughing as they ran, playing with soccer balls or footballs, their overprotective mothers following from a safe distance, maintaining an eye on their young. They passed people making out on their picnic blankets, others riding their bikes. A group of pre-teens were sitting around a jukebox, blasting their music.

Raven and Beast Boy came to a secluded park bench underneath a large oak tree.

Beast Boy gestured towards the bench. "Want to sit down?"

She sat on the edge of the bench and scooted over across the wooden slats, giving him room to sit down next to her. He sat down next to her, keeping a bit of distance so she'd have a bit of personal space. He knew that she wasn't entirely comfortable letting people into her personal bubble.

"So, Beast Boy," Raven started. "Tell me some more about you."

He shrugged. "Well, you know about how I got my powers and all of that.."

She nodded.

"Umm.. Well I think most of the team knows most about me. You know I vocalize that whenever people ask."

She shrugged. "Well yeah, but.. You know. Up until this point I haven't really ever spent much time socializing with you guys. So c'mon, tell me something new. What about plans for the future?"

He chuckled. "Well, well, look who's being social today," Beast Boy teased.

Raven crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"This is what couples do!" she pouted. "And while I'm not usually the most social person, people in a relationship are meant to talk."

Beast Boy's face flushed. "What.. did you say?"

Raven raised her eyebrows expectantly, repeating what she said slowly, as if it were difficult for him to understand. "People in a relationship are meant to talk?"

He shook his head. "No, no, before that.. you said that we're a couple?"

Raven's eyebrows went up again, this time in surprise. "Well.. aren't.. we?" she asked, looking him in the eye.

Beast Boy just sat there, dumbfounded, mouth agape.

The girl before him waved her hand in front of his face. "Beast Boy?"

Just then, the changeling wrapped his arms around the girl before him and enwrapped her in a bear hug.

"Yes!"

Raven's eyes widened as Beast Boy crushed her in his arms. She wiggled her arms free from his grip, and wrapped them around him as well, hugging him back.

"Beast Boy?"

"Raven!" he said happily in return.

"Beast Boy, you're crushing my ribs."

He opened up his eyes and let her go, ushering forth a wave of apologies. "Ack! I'm sorry Raven! Are you okay?!"

She loosened her hug slightly, pulling away just enough to be able to look him in the eyes. "I think you punctured my lungs," she joked.

He chuckled to himself and pulled her close to his chest again in a hug.

"We really are a couple though?" he asked quietly into her ear.

He felt her nuzzle against his neck and whisper her reply. "Yeah.. yeah we are."

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**Next chapter: **Things are a bit hard to keep secret for a long time, aren't they? ;) And don't worry, I'm not even close to being done with this!

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Oh, and did everyone notice what I did there? Chocolate and vanilla.. opposites attract.. Tee hee, subtlety! Sorry if this one was a bit slow as well, but I'm building character! Don't want to rush through the story and skip over the nuances of the relationship.

_*******Oh, and feel free to throw ideas at me. I could use some good plot points! You can send me a personal message, put it in a review, or email me :) My creative writing email is on my profile, gotta type in one of those spambot tests to make sure you're human, but it's a 4 second process.*****  
**_

All of you loyally following this story, I love you with mouth. I just want you to know that. Like, here, if I could type out left arrows I would make a less than 3 heart for you all. Curses. :(

Thank you for your continued patronage! At the present I update daily, gonna try to keep that up, I know what it's like waiting for a story :) (might slow down to being updated every few days when classes start, but when my roomie and I aren't partying or studying, updates will be made!) classes don't start for a few weeks, so continue enjoying the daily update and me begging like a heroin addict for reviews


	5. Not Too Subtle

Haha, I just realized that in 4 months time I'm gonna be 18 :D Legal hells to the yeah.

Don't you guys absolutely love these miscellaneous musings I write?

Anyway, enjoy, you know how much of a review whore I am, so humor me :P

**I accept comments via email, review, and personal message. I will also give out my AIM and MSN accounts if you request them in a personal message/email. Whether it is for this story or a different one, I'd love ideas. :)**

I have another story in mind that you can expect to see when this one is done, I don't really like to write two stories concurrently.

And, just before the story starts, I'd like to give a special shout out to Angels and Airwaves, who got me through the day when I was in a creative slump.

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That night, the team was gathered around the TV, deciding that since they hadn't been together in a while that they should do something as a group. Robin had suggested they watch a movie that evening, and so everyone was piled up on the couch.

Midway through the movie, Beast Boy got a bit antsy and transformed into a small green cat. He walked across the couch and over to Raven, rubbing up against her and purring. Raven quickly looked up at the other teens in the room to make sure they had not seen, then pushed him back a bit, making a shooing motion with her hands.

"_Beast Boy, please, they'll see us," _came her voice in his head.

"_But Raaaveeeen," _he whined. "_When will we get to be affectionate without worrying about what everyone will think?"_

She bit her lip and looked down at him again. "_I know.. it's really hard now.. but I'm still not ready for them to know about us."_

Beast Boy's little green cat ears drooped and his tail sagged, and it nearly broke Raven's heart.

"_I'm sorry, Garfield.. Just be patient, please," _she begged.

Raven heard him sigh in her head. "_No fair!" _but she heard the smile in his voice.

"_I'll make it up to you," _she promised.

"_Ooh, _make it up to me_, huh? Sounds naughty, I like it," _he joked.

Raven sighed and pushed the green cat, toppling him over on his side. "_Perv."_

The strangely colored feline grinned at her before turning and walking to the other end of the couch, turning back to human.

Watching out of the corner of her eye, Starfire witnessed their little non-verbal interaction, noticing the smile on Beast Boy's face as he turned back to his normal self. She looked at Robin and Cyborg to see if they had noticed, but they were too engrossed in the movie to notice anything. They were oblivious to everything else except the screen. She smiled to herself, feeling that her earlier assumption about the nature of their relationship was correct. Feeling somewhat smug, she turned her attention back to the television, beaming.

Raven felt a bit unnerved. She had felt Starfire staring at her, but she did not make eye contact or turn her head to confirm. She did not want Starfire to know that she noticed, but a million thoughts raced through her head. "Does she know? Did she see anything? What was she looking at?" She found herself chewing on her lip in nervousness, and pulled the hood on her sweater over her head to hide her face.

The rest of the movie went by uneventfully, aside from Starfire catching Beast Boy looking over at Raven several times. Whenever she did, he would look away quickly, or pretend he was looking at something in a different part of the room, but he felt his blush rather gave him away.

When the movie concluded, Robin stood up and yawned. "Well, that was pretty hardcore. I'm going to bed." He turned to Starfire. "You coming, hon?"

Starfire giggled and quickly glided over to the boy wonder, taking his hand and turning to her friends.

"Goodnight, my companions! Do not let the biting bed bug you!" she chimed.

Robin opened his mouth to correct her, but shook his head and decided against it at the last minute. "Night everyone."

Beast Boy had left a few moments prior, wanting to exit the room as quickly as possible. He was worried that Starfire suspected something, so as soon as the movie was over he jetted out of the room to go to bed, barely uttering a good night to everyone before the door slammed shut behind him.

Raven stood up off of the couch, turning to Cyborg, who was the only one left in the room. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Victor."

He smiled up at her. "Night, Rae. Get some rest, you looked kind of sickly a bit earlier today."

She noticed that he was looking at the classifieds page in the newspaper and raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Looking for something in particular, Cyborg?"

He quickly put the paper down in his lap and covered it up. "Oh, um. Nothing. Don't worry. Looking for.. car parts. You know. For the.. car," he sputtered.

"Uh-huh. Well, whatever it is you're doing, have fun with it. Goodnight." And with that she walked out of the room, leaving the robot teen to his thoughts.

As she headed down the hall, she decided to stop at Beast Boy's room, knocking on the door lightly. When he opened it up, he smiled, happy to see her. She snuck a peek past his shoulder and saw his room, piled high with mounds of dirty clothes, shoes, comic books, old boxes and the like. He grinned sheepishly and stepped in front of her line of sight so she could not see his room.

"Sorry for the mess. What's up?"

She squeezed his hand gently. "I'm going to go take a shower.. come meet me in my room in twenty minutes.. okay?"

His eyes widened and he stood there, unsure of what to say. "S-sure. Great!" he managed to get out.

Raven then turned and left, leaving the boy to his thoughts.

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About half an hour later, Raven stepped out of the shower and took her towel off of the hook on the wall, tousling her hair dry. She wrapped the small white towel around herself, and cinched it shut, going over to her sink. Her mirror was too fogged to see her reflection in it, so she extended a hand to the surface and wiped the steamy residue off of it. Feeling curious, she looked down and looked over herself. She opened up her towel, looking back at the mirror to view her figure.

She was well endowed, her body having developed fully and nicely in the past few years. She let the towel slip down her body, allowing it to fall to the floor in a heap around her ankles. She shifted her weight onto one leg, striking a somewhat suggestive pose to look over herself. She tossed her hair with her hand, running her hand over her neck and shoulders. She smiled, feeling pretty, and eager for what was about to come.

Beast Boy was sitting on the edge of Raven's bed, looking around her room. Everything was very neat and in order, save for some loose papers and unfinished books scattered here and there. Her bed was large, a queen or king size, he wasn't sure. The sheets were very soft, they felt light and thin, but he knew they must be warm enough. Atop the sheets was a lavender comforter, and several generous throw pillows, which looked like they could give even the worst insomniac a good night's sleep.

In the bathroom, Raven slipped on a clean pair of undies and a rather short pair of dark grey boxers, as well as a black tank top that just barely covered her naval. She shook her head to make her wet hair look more natural, and stepped out of the bathroom, stopping in the doorway to smile at her sleepover guest for the night.

Beast Boy turned when he heard her, a grin playing at his lips as his eyes wandered over her body, going over her curves. They eventually rested on her legs, largely exposed due to her rather short pants. She shifted positions, suddenly feeling shy. The empath brushed a few loose bangs out of her eyes as she sauntered over to the bed. While Beast Boy was sitting, if he tilted his head upwards he could still match her lips, so when she walked over she held his head gently and pressed her lips against his as he sat on the edge of her bed. She tapped the carpet behind her with pointed toes, feeling suddenly very feminine and bashful. She smiled against his lips, enjoying being able to kiss him without craning her neck.

She gently sat down in his lap, straddling him. Her lips met his again, and her eyes fluttered shut, moving her lips against his as she deepened the kiss. As he kissed her back, she pressed her palms against his chest and pushed him backwards onto the bed, laying down gently on top of him. She smiled softly again, leaning down for another kiss. Beast Boy's hand made its way up to her cheek, slowly running his fingers through her violet hair. Her hand clasped over his and squeezed it softly.

His lips parted against hers, and he gently traced his tongue against her lips, and for the first time, she reciprocated, extending her tongue to his as they tentatively got a feel for each other. Any worries she carried had melted away, not caring about anyone or anything but the green boy beneath her. Her tongue slowly explored his mouth, and he did likewise for her, dancing together in bliss. They rolled over several times, as if fighting over who was on top.

After a long while, they slowed down, hearts racing as they lay next to each other. She nuzzled into his neck and kissed his green skin softly.

"Thank you.." she whispered.

"What for..?"

"Being patient with me.. I know I usually just shut you out.. thanks for still wanting to be with me through all that.." she smiled gently and hugged him close, her breath warm and gentle against his neck.

He gently stroked her cheek with a long, green finger. "Of course.. and, thanks for letting me in your room.. A few days ago you wouldn't have trusted me to come even within a yard of he," he chuckled.

She sighed happily and playfully punched him in the arm. "Still making jokes.. when will you grow up?" she asked with a smile.

He grinned widely and tickled her ribs. "Never. It's part of my charm."

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Robin was walking down the hall when Beast Boy stepped out of Raven's room, smiling widely and humming to himself.

"Uhh.."

Beast Boy turned and saw the spiky-haired teen staring at him, his face full of confusion.

"Robin! Um.. uh.. what are.. you doing here?"

Robin looked down at the glass of water he had in his hand, then extended it out to Beast Boy, showing him. "I got up to get a glass of water?"

"Oh.. um.. right. Sure.. water.."

"What.. were you doing in Raven's room..?" he asked, drawing out the word Raven to emphasize how bizzare the situation was.

"I.. uh.. forgot.. something.. in there," Beast Boy fumbled for words.

Robin stared at him for a long time, frowning in skepticism. "Right.. Don't let her catch you in there or she'll kick your ass.."

Beast Boy coughed, fidgeting in nervousness, looking around, desperate to get away.

"Yeah. Right.. kick my ass.. I'll remember that.. Er.. well, night!" he said, scampering off to his room.

Robin looked at Raven's door for a moment, then shook his head, mumbling to himself, "Nah.. No way."

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The next morning, when Raven stepped into the common room on her way to the kitchen, Beast Boy was heading out of the room and got in her way when she tried to walk by.

"Oh.. um.. morning," she said nervously, trying to maintain her appearance, knowing that the other titans were watching their exchange from the table.

"Uh.. hi.. how um.. how are you?" he asked her in return.

"I'm.. fine.. excuse me," she mumbled, trying to step around him again.

"Er.. Sorry," he said, moving to the side, trying to go around her. She moved the same way he did, and they ended up doing a short shuffle dance as they tried to get around each other. Eventually Raven grabbed him and gently moved him to the side, going around him as she exited the room.

Beast Boy stood there for a moment, looking at the spot where she was, before shaking his head and walking over into the kitchen, sitting down at the counter with his friends.

"What was that all about?" Cyborg asked him.

"What? Nothing. She and I just got stuck trying to walk around each other. You know how that is. And stuff.."

"Yeah, but why do you seem so nervous? You were babbling when you talked to her."

Beast Boy wiped his nose on his arm. "Shut up, it's nothing."

"What's going on between you two?" he pressed on.

The lanky green boy stood up and scowled at his robotic friend.

Fearing that Cyborg would try to work details out of him, he beat a hasty retreat out of the room.

"Something's going on between those two.."

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Alright, initial notes, this one was finished in a bit of a hurry, but took about 12 hours to write. I didn't want to drag out the make out thing, as this is not a smut story, it is more of a romance. I actually did not write this chapter intending it to be lemon.. when I wrote the bedroom scene, that was written as nothing more than kissing. But you know what, what the hell, interpret it however you like. It can be making out or tasteful lemon. And this chapter was hell to write.

_**As always, feel free to email me, PM me, or write comments/suggestions in the review column. :)**_

And actually, suggestions would be immensely helpful, I'm having difficulty stringing together ideas I have for the story.

I'm gonna take a day or two off to give myself a bit more writing time, I've been writing 8 hours a day to make deadlines these past 4 days, believe it or not. But please continue to send me suggestions and comments, I could really use them. :) If you guys don't mind me dragging out a bunch of dates and scenarios and such, let me know, I could do that.. dunno. Plan is to throw a bit of drama in there, if you want me to drown that out in fluff, by all means, let me know. I'm essentially your writing puppet :P

So, see you all in a couple days, if inspiration strikes I'll post sooner, but if not, it's just me taking some decompression time :)

Your continued feedback is so very appreciated, and I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying the story :)

The newspaper scene with Cyborg is foreshadowing, by the way. ;)

Sorry for making you read this horrifically long author's note, but it's not like I can send out a mass email to all my readers :P

Best Regards,

**HILYR**


	6. Found Out

H'lo, good folks at . Thank you for my decompression time, I'm feeling way less stressed! Right now I'm absolutely stunned. This is my 2nd week exactly on , and I trafficked 400 hits yesterday.. That absolutely blows my mind, and I just want to say thanks to all of you guys reading my stories, it means so much to me that people are enjoying the story :)

Many mahalos :)

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Starfire was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine when she heard a knocking coming from the front door. She stepped up and walked to the entryway to their large T-shaped home, and looked through the peephole. Through the fisheye, she saw a large black, half metal teen smiling back at her with a big white smile. She unlocked the door and opened it up, letting Cyborg in, carrying in his arms a large brown box.

"Thanks, Star!" he said happily, stepping past her.

She turned to watch after him, cocking her head to the side. She walked after him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Friend Cyborg? What is it that is in the box?" she inquired.

His grin stretched farther, and he set down the box on the floor.

"I'll show you, but you have to go get everyone! And hurry up!"

Starfire smiled widely, and nodded eagerly. "I will do as you say! I am most anxious to see what it is that you brought home!"

A visit to Raven yielded hostility and opposition, but Starfire eventually nagged Raven out of her room by continuing to talk even when the door closed in her face. Raven decided that the best way to shut her up was to humor her, so she begrudgingly followed behind the Tamaranean.

Robin was easy to get to come along, he was a sucker for anything Starfire wanted. He followed along happily whenever Starfire used her puppy eyes on him.

As it was before noon, Beast Boy was not yet awake, being a rather lazy individual. When he heard the knock on his door, he swore into his pillow and pulled the sheets over his head. "Go away," he called out in a whine, trying to go back to sleep. When the knocking continued, he screamed into his mattress out of frustration. He managed to drag himself out of bed, stumbling to his door, muttering to himself "This had better be _**God.**_"

The door slid open smoothly, revealing Starfire, Raven, and Robin. Beast Boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and scowled at Starfire. "What is it? I'm trying to sleep in here."

"I am sorry for waking you, Beast Boy, but friend Cyborg has a surprise he wants to show us!"

"Unless it's a mattress, I don't care," he grumbled, leaning against the door frame and covering his eyes. "Can I go back to sleep?"

"But Cyborg expressed a desire for everyone to be there when he unveils the surprise!"

Raven raised a hand. "If he doesn't have to go, I don't want to have to go either," she interjected in a cold monotone.

"Friends please! Cyborg said it was important that everyone be there!"

"C'mon guys. Just listen to her," Robin said sternly.

"You only say that because she's your girlfriend.. otherwise you wouldn't care either what Cyborg has to show us.. Especially if you were being woken up to go see it," Beast Boy spat back.

Starfire sighed. "I did not want to have to do this!" She reached out and grabbed Beast Boy the arm, slinging him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey! What the hell, Star?! Put me down!"

Starfire carried him, kicking and screaming to the living room as Robin guffawed. Even Raven had a good chuckle, watching as her secret boyfriend squirmed, overpowered by this dainty teenage girl. While she did indeed have extraordinary strength, she looked thin and fragile, which made it all the more hilarious.

Cyborg stared and laughed when he saw the others enter the living room, noticing Beast Boy immediately. "Glad you could make it, BB," he chuckled.

"Bite me," came his retort, crossing his arms over his chest as he hung upside down.

"So what's this amazing surprise?" asked Robin.

Cyborg grinned widely and opened up the lid on his box, reaching inside and pulling out...

A small brown cat.

Everyone stared at it, judging it with questioning gazes and confused stares.

"Meow?"

"Cyborg..?" started Robin, eyes wide. "Why is there a cat in the tower?"

"His name's Schrodinger!" he announced proudly. "I just adopted him today! Isn't he cute?"

"Schrodinger?" Beast Boy called out, his upside down state making his hair stand up away from his body, making him look like the bride of Frankenstein. "You mean like that quantum physics conundrum?"

Everyone looked down at Beast Boy, who frowned and crossed his arms again. "I make bad jokes. It's not the same as being stupid."

Robin blinked away the surprise, looking back to Cyborg. "So.. why did you bring a cat in here? You can't just show up with a cat, you need to discuss this with us!"

Cyborg picked up the cat and held him in the boy wonder's face. "Just look at him! How can you say no?"

The cat stared back at Robin with his big, sad cat eyes. "Mew?""

"Well? Do you have a reason why he can't stay?"

"I do," Beast Boy interrupted, raising a finger. "I have a reason!"

Cyborg looked down at the green boy. "Can you put him down?" he asked, addressing Starfire.

She flipped him back over and placed him on his feet, where he wobbled from all the blood draining away from his head. "Thank you," he managed to get out.

"Well? Why can't he stay?" Cyborg demanded.

"Well, I'm allergic to cats."

"You're joking."

The green skinned teenager eyed the cat. "I'm not."

"But you turn into a cat all the time. You're not allergic to yourself."

Beast Boy sighed, crossing his arms and spoke in a condescending way to Cyborg, as if it were something he needn't explain. "People aren't allergic to cats, per say. They're allergic to their saliva. Seeing as I never clean myself as a cat, I don't have to deal with having cat spit on me. So it doesn't aggravate my allergies."

Robin nodded. "And besides, why didn't you--" he stopped abruptly, looking around. "Where's the cat..?"

Cyborg looked down at his feet where he had placed the cat.

"Uh oh."

Raven covered her face with her hand, sighing loudly.

Starfire looked around the immediate area near her, shrugging. "I did not see the feline escape!"

"Don't just stand there gaping! Find my kitty!" Cyborg shouted.

"I hate you so much right now," Beast Boy said, turning to Cyborg with narrowed eyes and an extended jaw.

"Yeah, yeah, tell me later, right now we have to find Schrodinger!"

Mumbling curses and bitterness, the others turned and went in opposite directions, gazes sweeping across the floor and underneath things for the tiny new addition to their home.

Beast Boy transformed early on into a basset hound, who sniffed the ground, wandering in tiny circles, trying to catch the scent. He looked rather comic, and Raven couldn't help but utter a short laugh. His butt was up in the air, tail wagging and ears dragging on the ground, nose sniffing for the scent of the cat. Raven glanced around to make sure that everyone was preoccupied in their search, and then walked over to the green basset hound before her and scratched his head and behind his ears, before standing up and walking away with a smile.

After about ten minutes of unfruitful searching for Schrodinger, Beast Boy sneezed rather loudly. Everyone turned to see the green dog's ears flap as he sneezed, transforming into a human as he fell backwards. He rubbed his nose with his arm, sniffing loudly. "I fowed hib," he sniffled, holding up with his free hand the small, purring fuzz ball.

Cyborg squealed in delight, much like a school girl would, and took the cat from his friend, snuggling it against his cheek.

Starfire could not help but squeak too, running over to pet him as well. It was not unexpected however; Starfire loved anything small and fuzzy. Robin sighed, not wanting to send the cat away just yet, seeing as how much Starfire already liked him.

"We're going to have to talk about this later, Cyborg," he said discreetly to the metal teen. "I don't want a cat in the house."

Cyborg merely stared at him and tilted his head, indicating Starfire, who was cooing over the little kitten. Robin flushed and scowled at his comrade. "She has nothing to do with this!"

Cyborg simply raised an eyebrow.

The boy wonder scowled and turned away to hide his reddening face. "Don't say a word."

The robotic teen took his new friend in his arms, looked down at Robin and huffed. He walked away with his head held high, going off to bond with his furry little pal.

Beast Boy sneezed again. "Oh great," he sniffled. "You see? My allergies are already acting up. Just perfect," he uttered before blowing his nose with a loud honk.

"Lovely," remarked Raven.

Beast Boy wiped his nose on his arm. "I'm going to my room.. I think I left some allergy medication in there."

He stepped out of the room, tissue in hand, and the others could hear his loud nose trumpeting echoing down the hall as he left.

Raven looked back at Robin and Starfire, then turned and left the room as well without a word.

Robin turned to the auburn haired girl next to him and shrugged.

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As she was walking down the hall to her room, Raven saw Beast Boy up ahead. Her room was further down the hall from his, and she bit her lip, looking back to make sure nobody was around. She picked up her pace, jogging down the hall to reach him.

Beast Boy felt two arms wrap around his neck, and he spun around, only to find himself face to face with the girl who had told him they were a couple. "Raven? I thought-"

And before he could finish his thought, she cut him off, crushing her lips against his. After the initial surprise, he kissed her back, hands going to her waist.

She mumbled against his lips softly, "I missed you so much.."

"Maybe... we shouldn't.. someone could see," Beast Boy told her in between kisses.

Raven pushed him against the wall and kissed him passionately, pressing closer, not caring where they were or the risks of what she was doing.

"What the.. hell?"

Raven's eyes shot open, and she turned to see Cyborg standing down the hall, staring at them, mouth agape. She jumped back away from Beast Boy, looking like a deer in the headlights. Beast Boy stepped back as well, looking between Raven and Cyborg.

A few yards away from them, the metal giant dropped Schrodinger, who landed on his paws with a loud meow, before running off. Cyborg's jaw hung open, and he stood there, paralyzed, unable to wrap his brain around the event that was happening before him.

Raven stepped backwards, shock in her face, eyes wide. Black energy pooled around her feet and tendrils of her dark matter engulfed her and pulled her into the floor as she fled from the scene.

Beast Boy ran to the spot where she was moments before, grasping at the darkness as it faded in his hands. "Raven, wait!"

He turned back to Cyborg and scowled. "Thanks a lot, Vic," he snarled at him, taking off for Raven's room.

Cyborg remained there in the hall, still unable to move or speak.

Beast Boy pounded his fist on Raven's door. "Raven! Raven, open up, it's me!"

"Go away!" came her reply, sounding strained and cracked, as if she was crying.

"Raven, please, let me in!"

"GO!"

He saw that she would not open the door for him, and he turned, leaning on the door. He slammed his elbow into it and slid down to the ground, burying his face in his hands.

"Raven.."

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DRAMA! O_O

As always, feel free to comment/review, email me, or PM me :)


	7. Taking it Hard

Well hello again, avid readers. Oh Lord, so many reviews! Makes me a very happy panda!

Last chapter Raven and Beast Boy got found out.. :( Raven did not take it well! Oh the drama, the suspense, the plot line! Here's our exciting next installment!

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Over the days that followed the events on that fateful day when Beast Boy and Raven were found out, the tower was quiet. Raven had not come out of her room, and would not respond when anyone attempted to knock on her door or call her. On the third day, a note was found on her door. It simply read,

'_Leaving for a while. Don't know when I'll be back._

_Raven'_

That was days ago. Nobody really knew why. But they knew she had left because she needed to go somewhere to be alone and think.

Beast Boy was taking it harder than anyone else. When spoken to, he would just remain stone faced, as if he did not hear himself being addressed. Sometimes he would lash out, bitterly spitting cruel replies to whomever spoke to him.

For the most part, however, Beast Boy rarely spoke to anyone, and spent most of his time avoiding everyone. Every day at the same time, he would go to Raven's room and gently knock on the door. He never expected her to answer, but he continued to do it every day anyway. When he visited, he would knock and quietly call for her. She would never answer, and he would sit outside of her door for hours, silently waiting for something that would never come.

And every day, after a few hours he would stand up, and walk away without a word. He would go to his room and lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. He wouldn't try to call her, or think about what he could have done to avoid this. He wouldn't cry or blame anyone. It hurt too much to. It was best to just stop feeling. Raven was gone, and that was it.

The girl that he had cared about more than the world was gone, and that was all that there was to it.

He stared at the ceiling, not moving, not thinking. His head was clear, his mind placid. He heard the sounds of the city from far away, but they seemed surreal, unfamiliar. It felt as if he were in a dream, nothing seemed real. He felt drained, emotionally exhausted. He no longer cared about anyone or anything. Because all that he cared about was gone.

Raven was gone.

Raven was..

His eyes stung as the tears finally welled up, biting at his skin as they rolled down his face. He rolled over and gently buried his face in his pillow, choking out bitter sobs.

"Raven.. Raven.."

His ears perked up as his heightened sense of hearing picked up a cough from behind him.

"Beast Boy.."

He turned to look at her, blurry eyed. "Ra..ven..?"

She stood uncomfortably in his room, hiding her face behind her hooded cloak and shifting uncomfortably, rubbing one of her arms with the other.

"Hey.."

Beast Boy got out of bed and walked over to her.

"What are you doing here..?" he asked, trying to stay calm.

"I wanted to say.. sorry for.. running out on you.."

"You're.. _sorry?"_ he asked, clenching his fists.

She stepped back, hand reaching up to her face as she recoiled in fear.

"You broke my heart and all you have to say is **_sorry?_**" he demanded from her.

"Beast Boy, let me explain.."

He dug his nails into his palms. "You didn't even say goodbye, Raven. You just left. Do you have any idea how that felt to me?"

She backed up further, speaking in a quiet, timid voice. "I know.. and I'm sorry, but.. you understand why I--"

"No. No I don't understand. You left me without a word, and for what reason? Because Cyborg saw? You made me feel like it was my fault when there was nothing I could do about it."

He could see tears running down her face under her hood. "I know.. I was wrong.. but I was scared, Beast Boy.. I panicked and I didn't know what to do.. I don't know how else to say I'm sorry.."

He walked over to the door and pressed the button to make it slide open. He turned to her, gesturing holding his arm outstretched towards the exit, averting his gaze away from her.

Raven stood there for a moment, biting her lip. She nodded, looking down at her feet. She slowly walked out of the room, her cloak dragging on the ground behind her.

When the door closed behind him, he leaned against it, sliding down to the ground. He crossed his arms over his knees and hid his face, quietly sobbing. On the other side of the door, Raven leaned against the door, doing the same. The two wallowed in their despair, so close but so far from each other.

Neither of them rested well that night. The only reason they weren't up all night was the exhaustion they exerted before crying themselves to sleep.

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The next day was quiet as well. The only time Raven spoke was to inform the others at breakfast that she had returned. She was welcomed back warmly, but responded merely by nodding in silence. She looked at Beast Boy several times at each meal, but he wouldn't allow himself to return the stare. After dinner he politely excused himself and left the room. Raven got up and quickly followed him. When she stepped into the halls, about to call out to him, she saw that they were empty, and he was nowhere to be found.

She stood there alone, staring out into the dark corridors. "Beast Boy.."

She turned back and looked into the living room. Cyborg stood up and said something to Robin and Starfire, walking through the room and in her direction. She thought about escaping before her friend could reach her, but something kept her in place. She waited quietly for him to approach. When the tinman caught up to her, he looked down at his large feet, reaching for words to say.

"Raven..? Mind if I talk to you..?" he started, keeping his voice low so Robin and Starfire could not hear.

She nodded solemnly.

"I know this doesn't excuse it, but I didn't tell Robin and Star about.. you know."

She nodded again and sighed. "Thank you, Cyborg.. that means a lot to me."

And with that she turned and slowly walked down the hall to her room.

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Shorter chapter, but the other ideas I had for this would break the flow of this chapter. I think it's very strongly worded! I like this one :)

As always, comments, reviews, emails, PMs, are all welcomed :)


	8. I Think I Might

-gestures towards the story-

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Raven didn't come out of her room for a few days after her run-in with Beast Boy. She supposed that she could go visit him, knock on his door, see if he would come out, but she knew deep down that it would not work. She didn't want to go visit him until she really had a way to tell him how sorry she was.

She sighed. She felt like crying, but she knew that it would not solve anything, so she concentrated her efforts on finding a way to express to Beast Boy how remorseful she was for her actions. Her mind felt cloudy. She grunted in frustration and flopped down backwards on her bed, staring up at the dark ceiling.

"If only there was some way to get my mind clear.."

She looked over at her bedside table and saw her mirror resting face down. She reached out slowly for it, holding it before her and staring. "Hm.."

She closed her eyes and envisioned herself in the world of her own mind, the dark, twisted land of thought that lie within her mirror. Holding the image in her mind, she spoke quietly "Azerath.. metrion.. zinthos."

She felt her body stretch and warp and it felt like she was being pulled through a vacuum. A darkness surrounded her, and her body felt numb, before she was spat out in the middle of her own thoughts. She landed rather clumsily, falling to the ground upon her arrival. She stood up and brushed herself off, complaining under her breath.

"One would assume you would be rather more graceful at this, having done it so many times," a bemused voice sounded from behind her.

She turned suddenly and saw a yellow clad figure sitting in a nearby tree, one leg crossed over the other and a book in hand, an amused expression on her face.

"Knowledge," Raven said, greeting the denizen of her mind.

"Do try to be more careful, won't you?" the yellow-cloaked girl called out, removing her spectacles and chuckling at Raven.

"I'm not really in the mood," sighed Raven. "Now will you come down and talk to me or are you going to continue to act like a child?"

Knowledge cocked an eyebrow at her clone. "Feeling a tad grumpy, are we Raven? Very well." She slammed her large book shut and hopped off of the branch she sat upon, landing on her feet with a gentle thud. "See? It's not terribly difficult to do," she jabbed, wiping off the lenses of her glasses with her cloak.

Raven crossed her arms over her chest and stared menacingly at Knowledge, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Alright fine, I shall stop jesting you. What did you come here for?"

"Well, I've been trying to find a way to apologize for.." she shut her eyes tightly, fighting back the pain of the memory. "For.. you know... And, whenever I try to sit down and just think, my mind feels foggy.. and I figured I'd come here and find out why."

Knowledge laughed out loud. "Oh, and here I was thinking this would challenge my intellect. Follow me." She motioned for Raven to come with her, and she set off, walking at a brisk pace.

Raven stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, but then quickly picked up her pace and stayed in tow with Knowledge.

"So.. where are we supposed to be going? And what was with that comment about challenging your intellect?"

Knowledge smiled. "I mean I'm amazed you can't figure this one out on your own. Just come with me."

Raven sighed and kept her mouth shut, opting to follow silently after Knowledge.

After just a bit of walking, no more than three minutes, they came to a clearing where all of Raven's emotions were gathered around, speaking animatedly.

"I.. don't understand. Why is this the answer?"

Knowledge gestured towards the others. "They're arguing. Do you see what that means?"

Raven turned towards the other Ravens. Timid and Bravery were in a heated argument, Happy and Sadness were bickering. It seemed that whenever there was an emotion, it was having a spat with its polar opposite.

"I have.. conflicting emotions?" she guessed dryly.

Knowledge nodded. "Precisely. You may be saying that as a joke, but that's the fact of the matter. You are experiencing many emotions right now, given recent events, and so you're feeling rather.. mixed up, I suppose."

Raven sighed and covered her face with her palm. "Thank you Doctor Freud.."

Knowledge rolled her eyes and put her glasses back on.

Raven rubbed her temples with her fingertips, her head starting to hurt. "So what would you call this?"

Knowledge shrugged. "Teenage angst?"

She stared the yellow caped clone down.

She sighed. "Think about it, dearie. All the recent events that took place revolved around one individual." She extended a hand, gesturing for Raven to continue the train of thought.

"Beast Boy," Raven said, as if just realizing it herself.

"Correct. You've been happier last week than you have been in a very long time, Raven. Your date stirred up a lot of emotion in you. Happy over there almost gave me an aneurism that day. Of course, you also were feeling shy that night, and that kiss that you initiated was branched out of a growing affection for the lad. And then poof, when you're found out, Timid goes berserk, you end up leaving and when you come back you get yelled at by the person who you had budding feelings for."

Raven felt her face grow hot and she suddenly wished she was wearing her uniform. Not because of comfort, but because of the hood she could use to hide her face. "So you're saying.."

Knowledge sighed, looking bored. "You've got feelings for the boy. Very strong ones. Possibly..." Knowledge made a coy face, looking at Raven from the corner of her eye. "The 'L' word?"

Raven's eyes grew wide. "No.. no, that can't be right.. We've only gone out a couple times!"

The emotion before her gave her a blank stare, as if she was talking to a child. "You've known him for _years,_ Raven. You've always been harboring a spark for him. You just would never allow yourself to admit it. And when you got the opportunity to advance the relationship, that quickly fanned the flame and.." she outstretched her arms. "Such is life."

Raven looked back at the emotions arguing. She looked to Knowledge again, and then looked to the side, mind racing now. "_Could I really..? No.. there's no way.. I.." _and his face came to her mind, and she felt her heart leap, and her stomach turned in a knot. Her pulse quickened and she felt her face grow red hot.

Before her, Knowledge grinned widely, seeing that her suspicions were correct. "Well, well, well. Who would have thought that this day would come."

Raven turned her back to the girl and started walking away. "_Me and.. Beast Boy?"_

Knowledge smiled to herself and floated up onto a nearby tree branch, adjusting her spectacles and cracking open her book again.

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Raven stood in front of Starfire's door. She sighed, looking around.

"I shouldn't even be doing this.. I'll just go.." she looked back at the door. Sighing again, she gathered up her courage and tentatively knocked on the door. She heard a shuffle and footsteps come from inside, and then the door slid open, revealing Starfire standing there.

"Oh! Friend Raven! What is it you want?"

"I.. can I come in?" she asked, having second thoughts about the whole thing.

"Oh, but of course! Please, do come in and make yourself the welcome at home!" she said giddily, moving to the side and sweeping her arm towards her room, motioning for Raven to enter.

When she stepped into the girl's domain, immediately she began to second-guess her decision. Everything was brightly colored and fuzzy. The whole atmosphere was so girly that she wanted to scream. She shut her eyes tightly again and rubbed her head, getting a migraine from the assault on her corneas.

Starfire walked over to her large plush bed and sat down on the edge, patting beside her, offering for Raven to sit.

The purple haired girl sighed and walked over to her friend, uncomfortably sitting down on the spot that she indicated, pulling her legs up to her chest and crossing her arms over them, where she then rested her chin.

"Starfire.. how do you know if you're in love?"

The Tameranean's eyes widened, and she tilted her head to the side. "Pardon? I apologize, but I do not think I heard you correctly. Please repeat yourself?"

Raven sighed again. "How do you know if you are in love, Star."

"I.. do not think I understand.." she said slowly, trying to get a feel for what Raven wanted.

"What does love feel like? What is the sign that you love somebody?" she asked, trying to remain patient with her naive friend.

"Why is it that you ask..? What do you wish to gain from this? And I am not sure that I know how to explain.."

"Just.. How did you know that you loved Robin?" she asked, cutting her off.

Starfire placed her hand over Raven's. When Raven looked up, she saw Star looking at her with a compassionate smile. "Raven.. there is no magic sign that goes off when you are in love." She gave her friend's hand a supportive squeeze. "When it happens, you will know."

Raven lifted her head up and smiled softly. "Thanks, Star.."

She smiled in return. "You are welcome, Raven.."

She was then surprised when the empath wrapped her arms around her, embracing her warmly.

Starfire hugged her back gently. "I know about you and friend Beast Boy, Raven.."

Raven pulled away. "How did you know?"

She smiled. "I am not clueless as the boys are."

Raven chuckled.

"And," Starfire started, "I promise I will not tell anyone."

Raven made a face. "Well.. Cyborg already found us out.. so I guess it's just Robin that's out of the loop."

Starfire giggled. "As usual."

Raven laughed as well, and it turned into the two giggling to themselves, like two normal teenage girls.

Raven smiled when she managed to catch her breath. "Thanks, Starfire. I feel a lot better now."

Starfire nodded. "So.. do you think you love friend Beast Boy? Is that why you have asked?"

Raven tilted her head downward so her hair could hide her face. "I.. think I might."

The tan girl then engulfed her in a bone crushing hug. "Oh that is wonderful! He will be most pleased!"

Raven pulled away and looked solemn. "I don't know about that.. he's.. angry with me.."

"Whatever for?"

"Well," Raven began, looking for the right words. "When I left.. I.. didn't tell him first.. and he ended up blaming himself for me leaving.. and when I came back he was just furious.. I can understand why, though.."

Starfire frowned and held Raven at arms length, making the empath look at her.

"Raven.. Why don't you just tell friend Beast Boy what you have told me here?"

"Star, I never could.. I'm too shy, and I'm sure he hates me now.."

She crossed her arms and glared at the pale girl before her. "Then you will never know if he feels the same way, Raven."

The violet haired beauty looked up. "I.. I guess you're right.." She stood up. "I guess.. I'll never know until I try.." She felt Bravery getting a rush within her. "_You can do it!!!" _she shouted.

As she got up to leave, she turned back to Starfire. "Thank you.. I really am thankful that I can talk to you, Star.. even if I have to explain things now and then." She smiled.

Starfire smiled at their little joke as well. "Go on, Raven."

She nodded and closed the door, starting down the hall. With each step, her feet felt heavier, and her heart beat faster and faster as the door to his room came nearer. Her hands felt clammy, and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. When she stood in the hall before his room, she steadied herself, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Before she could change her mind, she knocked on his door louder than she should have, in an attempt to build courage.

When she got no response, she cleared her throat and called out. "Beast Boy..? It's me.. I think I finally know how to let you know I'm sorry.."

After a long silence she started to turn and leave when she saw his door slide open. He stood there with a hardened look on his face.

"Raven," he acknowledged in a cold voice.

She stepped forward and gently placed her hands on his cheeks, looking up into his emerald eyes. "Beast Boy..?" she took a deep breath and spoke before she could back out. "I think.. I love you.."

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Ohhhhhhhh crap. Heaven knows where this could lead.

Heh. For a long time now I've been intending Raven to have a conversation with Knowledge. She's so fun, I wish she had more screen time! I don't know why she's yellow, but what the hell, it works.

Hope you like it, I had fun with this chapter! :)


	9. Making Up

Holy crap you guys. This story is getting a fan-frigging-tastic response ._. I think I may love you guys. Like, all of you. Seriously. I'm so glad that so many people are enjoying the story thus far, pleases me to no end to know that my writing is appreciated :)

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"Beast Boy..?" she took a deep breath and spoke before she could back out. "I think.. I love you.."

His eyes widened and he reached up to take her hands off of his face, lowering them, but not letting go.

"What..?" he asked slowly, face warped in confusion.

She looked up at him, her violet eyes pleading with him. "I love you, Beast Boy.."

He started to move his mouth, but no words came out. All that me managed to do was make a quiet grunt of exasperation. He stumbled backwards and fell into his room.

"Beast Boy!" Raven ran to the changeling and knelt over him. "Are you okay?"

He took several deep, calming breaths and looked over at her. "You love me..?"

She took his hand and held it to her cheek, nuzzling against it softly. "Yes.." she whispered quietly.

"Raven.."

She opened her eyes and looked down at him, her face full of worry. "I know I was wrong to leave without saying anything but I was all mixed up and confused and I didn't know how to tell you and I didn't know what I was feeling and I didn't know that I loved you and then I went into Nevermore and talked to Knowledge and--" she was cut off as his finger pressed against her lips.

She looked at the thin green finger, and then down at the arm it was attached to, and then the boy to whom it belonged.

He smiled up at her weakly from his place on the ground. "You know that you really hurt me, Raven.."

She nodded, eyes stinging as she tried to fight back tears.

She started to speak quickly again, trying to explain herself. "Well I told you I didn't really know before I left and when I was trying to meditate my mind was all cloudy and whenever I thought about you I felt like.."

He sighed. "Like what, Raven..?"

"Like.. I just.. wanted to make you happy.. Even if that meant that I couldn't be with you.. I know what I did hurt you.. and when I thought about it, I realized that I didn't deserve you.. But I still wanted you to be happy, and even if you wouldn't forgive me, I wanted you to find happiness with someone else.."

He remained silent, and his eyes wandered over his face, where she struggled to blink back the tears from her eyes. "Damnit.." she mumbled. A hand reached up to her eyes, rubbing the tears away as she tried to keep from sobbing.

He averted his gaze, finding that his throat tightened and his eyes burned when he looked at her so distraught. He bit his lip and reached up, taking her hand away from her face. Her eyes were red from crying, and she looked away, trying to hide her face. He slowly reached up and brushed a tear from her eye with her thumb.

"Raven.. I may have been hurt by your actions, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you.."

She sniffled and let out a quiet sob.

"Raven.. I can't stand to see you so upset.. why do you think I've been trying to make you laugh for all these years..?" He pulled her down on top of him, embracing her warmly. "I want to give this another try.."

She wiped her eyes on her arm and choked on her words. "Really?"

He nodded and stroked her cheek softly. "And you said you don't deserve me.. nothing could be farther from the truth, Raven.. I'm the one who doesn't deserve you.."

"Beast Boy.."

He gently cupped her chin and pulled her down, closing the gap between their lips, kissing her delicately.

Her eyes closed and she laid down over him, not caring that they were on the floor surrounded by dirty clothes and old boxes. What mattered was that she was kissing who she loved. She had confessed her feelings, and here they were, overcoming whatever stood between them.

His fingers traced through her hair, his touch delicate and loving. Her lips felt so soft against his, it was as if she were made of silk. "Raven.." he whispered.

She kissed him softly, enveloping his mouth. She then pulled away for a moment, just inches away from his lips. She was breathing hard, trying to catch her breath after depriving herself of oxygen during the kiss. Her breath was warm against his skin, and it sent goosebumps up his neck.

"Do you love me..?" she panted softly, leaving a line of butterfly kisses up his neck and cheek.

Beast Boy wrapped his arms around her, fingers tracing a slow circle on the small of her back. "I always have, Raven.."

She leaned her forehead against his, rubbing her nose intimately against his. Her chakra hurt his forehead a bit, but it didn't bother him at all, because he was lost in Raven's deep, swirling violet orbs.

"You have..?" she asked softly, lips brushing against his.

"I've loved you for years, Raven.."

"Oh Beast Boy.." she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged it tightly, crushing her lips against his, eagerly attacking his mouth.

He pulled back, stopping her for a moment as he got up off of the floor. He took her hand and smiled shyly, walking over to his door and punching in the numerical code to lock the door. When it slid shut and the familiar click of the lock sounded, he turned and lifted her up into his arms. He walked her over to his bed and laid her down gently, crawling over her and placing another kiss on her lips.

She pawed at his shirt, pulling it over his head, where she then tossed it off carelessly to the side. He soon after followed her example and pulled her black tank top off, throwing it behind him where it landed on a nearby lamp. Her breasts were heaving behind her lacy bra, her face flushed and hair hanging in her face. She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him passionately, losing herself in the man she loved.

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Beast Boy kissed the crown of Raven's head, taking in her scent of lilac and herbal shampoo. He noticed that her scent was now on him as well, and when he snuggled closer to her, he could smell a somewhat musky scent on her skin. He smiled. They had rubbed off on each other. Ordinarily no one would be able to notice, but with his heightened sense of smell, he easily picked up on it. At this moment he felt extremely thankful for his animal senses.

The pale girl he held in his arms stirred, mumbling quietly in her sleep. He froze, halting his movements, not wanting to wake up his lover. She shifted positions and snuggled closer to him, then settled. He smiled to himself, nuzzling his nose into her hair, breathing in her smell. Beast Boy pulled her closer, closing his eyes and sighing happily as he felt her smooth skin against his. He fell asleep listening to the rhythmic breathing of the girl in his arms.

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When Beast Boy woke up, he found himself alone in his bed. Raven was gone. He sat up and looked around, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"_Was that just a dream?"_ he wondered aloud. He sat up and got out of bed, walking over to the bathroom. When he flicked on the lights and looked in the mirror, he noticed some markings on his chest. When he looked closer in the mirror, he realized that it was a message spelled out backwards on his chest so that he could read it when he went to the mirror.

"_Didn't want to leave without giving you a note this time. Don't want Vic to tease us if he sees me coming out of your room. _

_Love,_

_Raven_

_P.S. I apologize for the sharpie. I could not find a washable marker."_

He smiled when he saw her words, but then his face went blank when he read the postscript. "Damnit, Raven."

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Beast Boy strolled into the kitchen and greeted everyone, stretching and yawning as he walked to the fridge. He saw Raven staring at him out of the corner of her eye.

"_Morning, you,"_ her voice sounded in his head.

_"Good morning. What's with the sharpie, Raven? Haven't you heard of a pen and paper?" _he responded through their mental link.

He heard her laugh. "_That's your punishment for stressing me out so much."_

_"To be fair, little lady, you put me through quite a bit yourself!"_

_"Oh bite me."_

_"Didn't you get enough of that last night?" _he countered.

"_You are such a perv."_

He turned and grinned at her, showing off a wide, goofy smile that he was known for.

Raven did her best to ignore his stares and walked over to Starfire, whom she tapped on the shoulder. Starfire smiled and greeted her warmly, and Raven leaned in and whispered something to her. Starfire beamed and nodded.

Robin cocked an eyebrow as he saw this. "What's that all about?"

Starfire turned to him and smiled. "It is girl talk!"

Beast Boy and Robin looked at each other and shrugged, returning to what they were doing.

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This chapter was based off of a personal experience. Short chapter, I know, but I feel like I'm already breaking the flow enough as it is by adding that last part.

Hope I kept everyone in character well enough.

Side note: I don't honestly believe that the yellow-clad emotion is named 'Knowledge' though.. Knowledge isn't an emotion. I don't know. I'll continue to call her Knowledge, but there is no way in hell that she's an emotion. Whatever. She's like, one of the best mental Ravens. Big round dork glasses. She's a blast. I should make a story about just her.

As always, feel free to contact me via email or personal message. And reviews of course. If you want to get my MSN or my AIM, drop me a personal message.


	10. Official

Well hello again. You know when you have like 3 story ideas and you want to get them all down at once? But you don't want to be writing 3 stories concurrently? Yeah, I'm dealing with that. I'm also dealing with my laptop reaching 108 degrees Fahrenheit. (That's about 42.2 Celcius for people using the Metric system)

I didn't like the last chapter that much but I'm glad you guys did.

And before I start this, I have a quick question for you guys out there..

Do you ever forget to breathe?

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Raven lead Beast Boy down the hall, pulling him by the hand.

"Will you at least tell me what we're doing?" he whined, trying to pry information from his girlfriend.

"We're going to see Star!"

"What? Why?"

"I have to go say something to her," she said plainly.

"Wha?"

"Just.. shut up and come with me, you'll see."

They were almost at Starfire's door, and Raven knocked twice.

The door slid open and Starfire smiled at the two of them, Beast Boy pulling his hand away from Raven quickly so that she wouldn't see.

"It's okay Beast Boy," Raven smiled.

Starfire nodded. "Please come in, friends!"

As they stepped into Starfire's blindingly pink abode, Beast Boy stood in the doorway, trying to comprehend the happenings. One could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he tried to process what was going on.

"Wha..?" he mumbled.

Raven sighed at him and pulled him into the room. "Beast Boy, Starfire knows about us."

His eyes widened. "I swear, it's not my fault! I didn't tell her anything!" he said, outstretching his hands and gesturing to emphasize his point.

"Beast Boy."

"And if she did figure it out from something I said or did, I **swear **I didn't mean to! Tell her, Starfire! Tell her it's not my fault!" his eye twitched as he spoke, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "Tell her!"

"Beast Boy!" Raven said loudly, grabbing him by the ear, causing him to flinch and lean towards her to ease the pain.

"Ow, ow, ow.. yes?" he asked meekly.

"I told her, you idiot," Raven said flatly. "Are you calm? I'm not going to let go until you're calm."

"I'm calm!" he whimpered. She let go of his ear and he cradled it in his palm, mumbling to himself. "Holy crap, Raven. And what do you mean you told her? I thought we weren't supposed to tell anyone?"

Raven crossed a leg over the other one and reclined on Starfire's bed. "She gave me some advice when I needed it. "

Starfire smiled at her. "So, I am assuming everything went well, since you are here with friend Beast Boy?"

Raven smiled and tugged Beast Boy closer to her, rubbing his back slowly as she turned to Starfire. "Yes, it all worked out fine."

"So.. are the two of you doing the coupling now?" Starfire asked gleefully, overjoyed at the union of her two friends.

She took her boyfriend's green hand and rubbed it against her cheek. "Yeah.. we are." She looked up at Beast Boy and smiled.

"So.. wait a second," Beast Boy said, sitting down on Starfire's bed and putting his arm around Raven's waist. "Does everyone know about us then?"

Starfire giggled. "Only friend Robin does not know."

Beast Boy grinned. "You didn't tell him?"

She laughed out loud, shaking her head. "No, I have not. He does not even suspect it!"

Beast Boy started laughing as well.

"So," he started, wiping the tears from his eyes, catching his breath as his laughter died down to quiet giggling. "Are we going to tell him?"

Raven crossed her legs and sat indian-style on Starfire's bed. "I was thinking we could let Cyborg know that we're back together, since he was very mature about the whole thing before."

Beast Boy sighed. "If we must, but I hope you know that he's going to tease me to no end. You might not get any crap from him, but you can bet that I will," he groaned.

She grunted quietly. "You're a big boy, you can handle it."

He folded his arms and frowned. "So are we going to tell Robin?"

Raven looked thoughtful for a moment and then smiled. "Why don't we see how long it takes him to figure it out?"

Even Starfire laughed at that one, cracking up at Raven's joke. She did love Robin, but now and then she found his cluelessness charming. Unfortunately, she did not see the irony in that she too was clueless. Everyone agreed that it was part of what made them cute as a couple. They didn't even know that the other liked them until about 4 years of sexual tension and flirting. Because of this, they were the butt of many jokes around the tower, to which neither of them made the connection to their relationship.

Beast Boy chuckled. "Well then ,it looks like we have a game plan, Rae," he said, smiling as the two of them stood up and started to leave Star's room.

She glared at him. "Remember what I told you about calling me that?"

His jaw hung open, exasperated. "Are you serious? Even though we're a couple now?!"

"Yes! I don't want to be called Rae!" Starfire heard echoing down the hall as they left, arguing like an old married couple. She laughed to herself. "Oh I am so glad the two of them have gotten together!"

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The newly reunited couple walked down the hall, hand in hand.

"So," Beast Boy started. "Why did you get to tell Starfire and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone?" he teased.

"Oh please," she rebutted. "I was distraught! I had to talk to **someone**! You're not the only person I talk to, Beast Boy."

His ears fell and he looked down at his feet as they walked.

She sighed and gave his hand a squeeze. "Hey," she said, catching his attention. "You're the only person I love though," she finished with a warm smile.

His ears lifted back up and he cupped her chin, lifting it up so he could kiss her lips sweetly. "You sweet talker," he chuckled.

She kissed his lips again, pulling away with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Well, I wouldn't get too used to it.." She reached up and stroked his cheek slowly with the back of her hand. "You know how I am.. The sweet talking will only be for when it's just the two of us." A light blush overlaid her cheeks as she finished her sentiment. "I hope that's okay."

He laughed out loud and hugged her close to his chest, swaying with her in his arms there in the hallway. "I knew what I was getting into when I asked you out.. And it's just fine with me if you don't talk sweet around anyone but me." He grinned mischievously, contemplating something. "_Rae," _he finished, teasing her with the name he knew she didn't like.

Her smile flatlined and her eyebrows dropped, leaving her to stare at him with a blank, unamused look. "Beast Boy.."

He simply flashed off his toothy grin at her. "You'll get used to it. I do it out of love!" he concluded proudly, waggling his eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes at him and set off down the hall, leaving him behind.

"Hey, come on! I was kidding!" he called after her, starting to chase her down as she walked away from him, smiling and enjoying teasing him a bit.

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Well, I'm thinking it's about time to wind this one down and work on the next story, unless there's anything you guys want me to throw in here before it's finished! Kinda anxious to get started on the next one, but you know me, I write to please.

As per the norm, comments, questions, emails, IMs, PMs, anything are all accepted.

Regards,

HILYR


	11. Boy Blunder

I feel like this story progressed too quickly. I've kind of burnt out the candle on this one. Hopefully I can avoid making the same mistake with my next work, and hopefully you lot will read it.

**Anyway, another important authors note at the bottom. Please give it a read.**

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It had been a few days since they had made up, and Beast Boy and Raven were still acting casually around each other. For one thing, Raven wasn't one to be personable in public, and for another, the two of them did want to see how long it took Robin to figure things out. Cyborg and Beast Boy had actually taken a bet on when. Raven, being true to form, took the cynical approach and opted for 'never'.

This morning, as per the usual, the team was strewn about the living room, attending to their personal matters. Raven had a Tolstoy opened over her thighs, something a bit different than her usual tome, but daunting nonetheless to any onlookers.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing cards with Starfire and Robin. Although, there was much less playing than there was Robin trying to explain how the game worked to his tanned girlfriend. Beast Boy leaned on his arm to support himself and threw down his cards, casting a sideways glance at Cyborg, who's mouth was a pencil thin line of apathy.

"No, Star, a full house beats two pair," Robin offered, his voice sounding strained as he had been basically repeating this act all morning.

Cyborg sat at the table, sunk deep down in his seat as he played with the top of a Coke can. He exhaled a deep sigh, looking thoroughly bored.

"Well I'm having a blastie," Beast Boy said sarcastically to Cyborg, putting his cards down on the table.

The robotic teen tossed his cards onto the table as well, standing up. "That's about all the fun I can handle for today guys," he quipped, rolling his eyes. "Beast Boy! My man! I'm gonna make you some bacon!"

The green boy scowled at him. "Funny."

"I mean it! Come on, bro, let me show you what you're missing! Bacon is a religious experience, my friend!" he explained eagerly, going over to the freezer.

Beast Boy extended a finger to his friend and walked to the couch, plopping down next to Raven. He put his arm across the back of the sofa and leaned over to her ear.

"Love you babe," he whispered.

She didn't look up. Instead, she licked her thumb and used it to turn a page in her book. "You too," she said plainly.

Some might be discouraged from her lack of emotion. Beast Boy, on the other hand, knew better. She had reciprocated, and that was good enough for him.

He put his feet up on the coffee table and stretched, folding his hands over his stomach and settling in for a nap.

"Are you serious?" he heard Raven ask.

"What?"

"You just woke up and you're taking a nap already?"

"You bet."

"Beast Boy," Robin called. "Get your feet off the coffee table!"

"I can't hear you, I'm sleeping!" he yelled back.

From the kitchen, Cyborg laughed at the display.

Robin scowled at his friend. "Get your feet off of the coffee table, Beast Boy."

"Gee, I'm sorry mom!" he mocked. "Why does it even matter to you?"

"I bought that table!" he said, standing up and putting his cards down on the table. Starfire took advantage of this opportunity and started looking through the deck for cards that would give her a better hand. Robin did not notice her quietly cheating as he was busy yelling at Beast Boy.

"You're going to make a lovely wife some day, Robin" Beast Boy laughed.

Cyborg burst out laughing from the kitchen, and Raven turned to Robin. "Didn't realize you were so into interior decoration, boy wonder," she remarked dryly.

His face flushed and his brow furrowed. "Just.. just shut up!" he said, embarrassed.

Beast Boy turned to him and smiled. "You know we're just kidding pal. We all know you'll be a fantastic stay-home mom."

Cyborg was on the tiled kitchen floor in tears.

Robin stared him down, eye twitching in his rage. "Oh sure, laugh it up, Betty Crocker."

Cyborg lifted himself off of the ground, leaning on the counter. "What do you mean by that?"

"You cook every meal in this house!"

"Yeah but that's only because I won't eat BB's tofu crap!" he said defensively.

Starfire's eyes met Raven's, who proceeded to sigh and shrug her shoulders at her friend, lifting her eyebrows in derision.

"You're just afraid to eat it because you know you'll like it!" they heard Beast Boy yelling, having gone over to the kitchen. He jabbed a finger into Cyborg's chest as he talked, staring down the enormous man of steel.

"The hell I am!" he said, pushing his green friend.

"Then why don't you try some?" came Beast Boy's teasing rebuttal.

Raven got up and walked over to Starfire, who looked up from her cards and smiled when Raven sat down next to her. They picked up where Robin and Starfire had left off in their game, Starfire often confusing poker for Uno and Raven constantly correcting her errors.

The little argument that the boys were having in the kitchen had turned into a full-blown fight.

"Robin, you wouldn't know anything about that! You're clueless!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Just what do you mean by that?!"

"Oh come on, Robin!" Cyborg laughed. "You don't even know that Beast Boy and Raven are together!" he froze, eyes widening. His hands clamped over his mouth in realization of what he had done.

Beast Boy's eyes grew wide and his face turned pale, his jaw tightly clenched as he turned to face his friend. Raven had suddenly grown quiet and was staring at Cyborg from across the room, her face full of shock and disbelief. Starfire looked between Raven and Robin, trying to gauge their reactions.

"Uh.. oh.." Cyborg mumbled, staring directly at Robin.

The boy wonder blinked several times, but otherwise remained motionless. "You.. Beast Boy.. Ra..you said.." he shook his head. "What?" he asked again for clarification.

"Uh.. I meant.. er.." Cyborg stumbled.

Robin looked over at Raven, who remained motionless, skin even paler than usual. He then turned to the green boy before him, who grinned weakly and shrugged feebly.

"So.. you and.. Raven.." he started, gesturing, trying to put together the chain of events in his head.

Beast Boy turned back to look at Raven, who was still paralyzed, unable to move or speak, barely blinking.

He turned back to Robin, who went limp and fell back into his seat, staring blankly.

Starfire floated over to him and put her arm around him, helping prop him up. "You are.. okay, Robin..?"

He looked at her. "Did you know?"

She looked around and then shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

He looked to Cyborg, and then back to Starfire. "You all knew..?"

Cyborg knelt down next to him and put his arm on Robin's shoulder. "Look man, we just figured it out, alright? It's no big deal?"

"But.. but.. a-wuh.."

"Dude, calm down, it's okay."

"How long have you two been..?" Robin blubbered.

Beast Boy gestured at Raven, mouthing words to her, begging her to come over and help explain. All he got in response was a twitch from her right eye.

"I don't know.. a week? Maybe more?" he guessed.

Robin suddenly looked down at his hands, moving his fingers before his eyes. "Am I high?" he asked himself. He frowned and looked up at the ceiling, eyes tracing the room for any abnormalities.

Starfire shook him gently, attempting to get him out of his stupor. "Robin?"

Their team leader suddenly started laughing to himself. "Dreaming. That's it. Gotta be dreaming." He stood up and strolled up to Beast Boy, wrapping his arm around him and punching his arm playfully. "Well, good for you, dream Beast Boy! Right on, buddy!"

The 'grass stain' shifted uncomfortably and looked to Star for help.

Robin's playful giggle turned into nervous cackling as he strolled over to Cyborg, whistling merrily. "Hi 'Dreamborg!' How goes life?" he asked cheerily. "Ahh, yeah, you're doing fine. Me? Oh well I'm in bed asleep having a crazy dream!"

"Um.. Robin.. buddy.. do you need to lie down or something?"

"Didn't you hear me? I already am! I'm asleep right now!"

"Robin," Starfire spoke carefully, turning her boyfriend's head to face her. "You are awake.. You are not dreaming."

"Yeah, man.. you're kind of.. scaring me," said Cyborg.

Robin stood up and walked to the door. "I'm going to leave and come back in a moment. I'll be awake though, so we can try this over!" And without another word he stepped out of the room and left his friends to cast nervous glances at each other.

Beast Boy sat down next to his stupefied pale skinned girlfriend and gave her a gentle shake. "Raven?"

She blinked twice, grabbing for his hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and tried to get a feel for how Cyborg's outburst had affected her.

"Well that was.. not exactly how I wanted him to find out," she said slowly, looking to Cyborg.

"It was an accident!"

"I don't even think he believed it, Rae," Beast Boy said, still in shock from Robin's reaction to the news. "He kind of.. had a fit or something."

At that moment, the doors to the living room glided open and Robin strolled in, waving cheerfully to everyone.

"Morning all! I had the weirdest freaking dream!"

Everyone merely stared at him in silence. Cyborg was the first to break the ice, pointing a finger towards Beast Boy and Raven.

Robin stared, blank faced.

Then suddenly, "I'M AWAKE?!"

Starfire jumped in her seat, startled.

"WHAT KIND OF TWISTED UNIVERSE IS THIS?!" Robin bellowed. "EVERYTHING I ONCE HELD DEAR WAS ALL A LIE!"

Starfire flew over to him and rubbed his shoulders, trying to get him to calm down.

Beast Boy turned to Raven and shrugged, a grin forming on his lips. "Well.. guess that's that."

Raven rolled her eyes and allowed him to kiss her, ignoring Robin's bewildered screeching.

"OH GOD, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL ANYMORE!"

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****Important author's note time****

Well, that's it. I'm done, I can't write with this one anymore. I have a fantastic other story that I want to do instead, so I'm letting this one go. I simply blew through it too fast, and I will not make that mistake again. Hope I get a better response than I did to Metro. -bitter laughter.-

My next main project is called 'Young Adults'. I do very much hope that you all read it and patronize it as much as you did this story. Thanks for reading this one, I hope you enjoy Young Adults just as much. It has a darker theme than First Date did, but it's written better.

Cheers for your support,

HILYR

**THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO READ AND REVIEWED, YOU HAVE MADE ME FEEL LIKE I HAVE A PLACE HERE ON THIS SITE. I HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO FOLLOW MY WRITTEN WORKS, AND MOST OF ALL, I HOPE YOU TRULY ENJOY THEM. MY GOAL IS SIMPLY TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY, EVEN IF FOR JUST A MOMENT.**


	12. OH MY GOD IT'S BACK

Yes. You read correctly.

I am dusting this one off and bringing it out of retirement.

I have come to this decision because of several reasons. While in my state of writer's block I came up with several scenarios in which to put our Titans, none of which could be expanded into a full story. This lead me to look back favorably on this work of mine and remember all the creativity I could get into it. So here we are.

The second reason is I am as much of a shameless review whore as I can be without turning tricks on the sidewalk near your home. That plus I use my traffic page to gauge my worth as a member of society.

Buckle the hell up for some fluff, faithful readers. Buckle. The. Hell. Up.

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Beast Boy's eyes cracked open and he stared up at the ceiling from his bed. He didn't really remember what time he went to bed, but he could tell it was already midday judging by the light coming in through the cracks in the boards covering his window.

His fingers ran through his messy, disheveled hair in attempts to tame his wild bed head. Almost immediately after the wrestled his mop of hair into a presentable fashion, it reverted back to its unkempt form, as if mocking him.

Frowning, he glared up at a tuft of hair that fell in his eyes, and he blew it out of his face grumpily.

He rolled over in bed to get comfortable, but instead fell over the edge and hit the ground with a loud thump. Groaning in pain, he attempted to untangle himself from the sheets twisted around him.

"Ow.."

The emerald teen struggled to stand up and stretched, extending his arms above his head. He yawned loudly, stumbling through the dirty piles in his room. In an attempt to wake himself up, he transformed into a kitten and stretched his paws out across the floor, having chosen this form because of the heightened flexibility.

The green kitten then crawled through a shirt lying on the floor. When he transformed back into his lanky teen self, the shirt was on his body, albeit backwards. He adjusted it and then threw on a pair of thin black jeans, leaving his dirty socks on his feet.

As he padded his way down the hall, he rubbed his hand across his chin, checking to see if his stubble was bad enough that he required an immediate shave. He decided that he would be fine for a while, and proceeded down the hall into the commonroom, as was the norm.

As the titanium doors smoothly slid open, he looked over his friends faces. Starfire waved cheerily and Cyborg called to him from the couch, pausing their Xbox.

"Dude, it's almost noon," he called to his green companion.

"Seriously?" came his reply as he stumbled down the few stairs that were in the room. "I could have slept in a bit more then."

Raven did not look up at him, but instead continued on with what she was doing, the newspaper spread out on the counter where she sat. She was tapping a pen against her temple gently, pondering over the clues in the crossword puzzle. He could tell that she had started not too long ago, as only about a third of the lines were filled in.

Beast Boy wandered over to her and hopped on the stool next to the pale teen.

"Please, Rae, calm down. Don't be so excited to see me," he joked.

She bit the end of the pen, deep in thought and returned with "I can be excited to see you without jumping up from my crossword puzzle."

He peered over her shoulder at the blank boxes before his girlfriend. Along the sides of the puzzle were crossed out words and pen scratches. He smiled. He liked how Raven was intelligent, although sometimes it did intimidate him.

"Valetudinarian," he said.

"What?"

"Number fourteen down. Valetudinarian," he said, shrugging as if it were obvious.

He was met with a bizarre expression from Raven, who looked like she had seen something from the Twilight Zone.

He extended a finger and pressed it on the clue on the page. "See? 'Weak or sickly person concerned with health.'"

She continued to stare at him, amazed. "How.. how do you even know words like that?"

He shrugged and grabbed the orange juice from the fridge, taking a sip directly from the carton.

"Beautiful, Beast Boy. You know other people drink from that," Robin called from the table.

"I'll finish the carton! There's only.. you know. Like half of it left in here anyway," he said, weakly defending his actions as he chugged down the rest of the juice. He crushed the carton and tossed it into the trashcan.

Robin rolled his eyes at his friend. "Write down 'orange juice' on the shopping list, please."

"Fiiiiiiine."

It had been several days since Robin had found out about Beast Boy and Raven being an official couple, and he was accustomed to the idea.. for the most part. Every time the two were together he seemed to have trouble coming to grips with reality, and often had to clamp his mouth shut in order to prevent himself from spouting out a line of questioning.

The boy wonder looked over at the newly united couple, shaking his head and sighing. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips, and settled back in his chair. Even though the two kept their relationship on a very low profile, he still felt slightly disillusioned with the knowledge that they were together. Two complete opposites united in a relationship. He sighed. He supposed that they were living proof of the 'opposites attract' rule. He was the peanut butter to her jelly.

He watched as Beast Boy walked over to Raven and leaned closer to tell her something. Although he wondered what it was, he shrugged it off because it wasn't any of his business.

What Beast Boy was doing was asking her out of the room to speak to her in private. She begrudgingly put down her newspaper and pen and stepped out of the room with him.

As the door shut behind them after they exited the room, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. "Thanks for not doing whatever it is you're doing in front of them," she said with a slight smile. "So what did you want?" Her expression grew somewhat sharper. "I was in the middle of something," she added.

He chuckled nervously. "Er.. well I just wanted to know if you wanted to maybe spend the day together.. you know, since we don't have to worry about anyone finding out or anything."

She looked back towards the commonroom, and then back to the tall green changeling in front of her. She brushed a lock of hair from her eyes and sighed in defeat. "Why not."

Beast Boy's grin widened. "Great. Lemme know when, I'm gonna take a shower."

She turned her nose up at him. "You need one."

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Just a short chapter. I'd write more, but it's like eleven and I want to go to bed XD I'd put this off, but I want to get this out there today. Let you all know that First Date is back in production.

I am a shameless review whore.

Next chapter will be longer, I just wanted to give you all a heads up with this quickie! I'd stay up to write more but I have to pack more of my crap for college in the morning. Brand new dorm, hell yes.

Be well, my duckies.

HILYR


	13. Shower

Alright, let's get this going. College starts in a few days so forgive me if my updates are less frequent. I still love all of you very much.

I would like to thank you all for my most successful day on this site! Yesterday I brought in more traffic than I have in any previous day by over 100 views!

Oh, and I noticed that I am coming dangerously close to 100 reviews on this story. When the hundredth review hits, I will.. I don't know. I almost want to have the hundredth reviewer suggest something for me to do. I could.. like.. film it and put it on YouTube or some crap.. I don't know. Read the story.

Anyway, this one has Rae a bit OOC. But why not? You gotta get up to get down. Gotta gotta get up and get down. Down.

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Beast Boy kicked off his socks and pulled his shirt over his head. It landed in the sea of dirty clothes and dead batteries, old coupons and discarded boxes. His bathroom was as messy as his room. The sink had toothpaste boogers in it, the rug was cast aside and curled up in the corner, and toiletries were littered across the floor and sink. He flicked on the light and wiped the smudges from his mirror in order to look himself over. He was thin and lanky, not very muscular at all. He ran a hand through his messy hair again and flexed in front of the mirror. He grinned at himself and unzipped his jeans, tugging them down and kicking them into his bedroom.

Standing naked in his bathroom, he reached into the shower and turned the knob to get the water running. It came out in a freezing cold burst, and he jerked his hand back like he had been bitten by a snake. He adjusted the knobs to fix the temperature, and it immediately became scalding hot, burning his hand as he tested the water. He yanked his hand back again and swore.

Wrestling the knobs into the right position to be tolerable, he stepped into the large, tiled shower and let the water wash over him. He sighed, feeling relaxed as the water melted his stress away. He closed his eyes and tossed his head back, wetting his hair.

At that moment, the sound of the running water dulled a bit and he heard a familiar voice in his head.

"_Hey, you done?"_

He was surprised at first, not entirely used to the mind link that she opened between them now and then, but he composed himself.

"_Just got in the shower. Why?" _he asked.

_"Oh.." _he heard her quietly say, sounding shy all of a sudden. "_Um.."_

He raised an eyebrow and suspiciously questioned her tone. "_Um what?"_

_"Can I.. um.."_

He puzzled over what was making her sound so nervous. "_Can you what?"_

An eerie humming sound echoed in the bathroom, so he stuck his head out of the shower, and saw his bathroom wall glow black as the features melted away from it. He saw a hand reach out through the wall, followed by a girl wearing a plain t-shirt and a towel around her waist.

Letting it fall to the ground around her, she shyly walked over to the green skinned teen and blushed brightly.

"Hey.." she mumbled, looking down at her feet, rubbing one ankle against the other nervously.

"H..hey..?" he said, pulling the shower curtain around himself, his normally green face lighting up red.

She took another step forwards, her gaze still pointed at the floor, letting her hair hide her face.

"Can I.. come in..?" she managed to get out.

Beast Boy's face was darker than it had ever been, and his jaw hung open slightly, his fang poking out at an odd angle.

She cocked her head and eyed him shyly, awaiting his response. "Well..?"

He could only manage to get out a choking sound at first, mentally yelling at himself.

"_Dude! Say something! Make a motion! Move! Do something! Anything!" _

He managed to clamp his mouth shut and nod.

Raven brushed a lock of hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She smiled shyly and tugged her shirt over her head. The changeling swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared at her before him.

Standing naked before him in his bathroom, she looked up at him, face redder than one could ever think, and a timid look on her face.

Beast Boy held the shower curtain open for the petite pale beauty before him. She stepped in and pulled the vinyl curtain shut behind them. She flinched as the water hit her skin, not used to the sudden transition. He noticed her reaction and gently extended a finger to her face, stroking her cheek delicately.

"It's okay," he smiled. "Just gotta get used to it."

Looking up at her boyfriend and catching his gaze, Raven wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed against him, holding him in a loving embrace. A bit taken aback, he wrapped his long arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

He smiled down at her, and she leaned forward and kissed his chest softly.

"Rae.. what made you decide to..?" he started, not sure why his girlfriend had decided to join him.

A faint smile touched her lips, and she stared into his emerald orbs with love in her eyes.

"I wanted to be with you.." she whispered, the sound almost being lost in the roar of the shower.

"You did..? But I thought--" his words were cut off as she extended a finger against his lips, silencing him.

She put a hand around the back of his head and pushed him down so she could kiss him. Her lips met his forcibly, but the kiss soon melted into a delicate, more intimate action. He moved his lips gently against hers, and she followed his movements, hardly even coming up for air.

"I love you, Garfield.."

Beast Boy smiled, hearing her use his real name. It made him feel that much closer to her, knowing that she was the only one who used that name. He was her Garfield, and she was his Rachel.

"I love you too, Rae.."

Her eyes fluttered shut and she went in for another kiss. It felt so right, the two of them pressed against each other, with nothing between them. The water cascading down on their bare bodies as they held their significant other in their arms. For the first time in her life, Raven felt completely at peace. It felt as if everything would be okay as long as he was there with her.

And as if thinking the same thing, Beast Boy too promised himself that he would do everything he could for her. He promised that he would always be there for her.

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Stepping out of the shower, Beast Boy passed Raven his towel. She looked down at it.

"I brought my own, Beast Boy. What are you going to dry off wi-" she was cut off as a spread of water drops flew in her face, and all over the bathroom. Beast Boy had turned into a dog and was shaking himself dry, his big basset hound ears flapping comically.

She inwardly laughed at his display, and how ridiculous it was that he was doing his, but at the same time, she glared at him for getting her wet with his dog fur.

He caught her eye and saw her irritation, and quickly switched back into his human form.

"Oops. My bad, Rae," he said, taking the towel and helping her dry off, rubbing it across her. He dried her hair, tousling it underneath the towel. When he brought it away, he saw her looking up at him, wet, stringy purple hair hanging down in her face, and he couldn't help but smile.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, blushing and feeling self conscious.

"You're really beautiful, you know.." he said, admiring her.

Her blush grew redder and she scowled, punching him in the arm. "Shut up."

The changeling cupped her chin and lifted her head up to look him in the eye. "I mean it," he said with a warm smile.

As her blush darkened even more, a loud crunching noise broke through the air and they turned and saw that his mirror had cracked down the middle. There were fading remnants of Raven's dark energy in the groove, and she quickly turned back to him to apologize.

"I'm really sorry, Beast Boy. Maybe I should go, I should meditate or something, I'm letting my emotions get a bit wild." She gave him an apologetic smile and turned to leave. He tugged her hand, bringing her back.

"Raven. I don't care if your powers blow things up. Okay? It's better that you can release your emotions and cause a bit of property damage rather than keeping it bottled up." He looked around his room. "Besides, this place isn't in the finest condition anyway."

She shook her head again. "No.. I think it would be best if I went to meditate.. I don't want to cause any more damage.." she said, looking around.

Beast Boy chuckled and cupped Raven's hands in his own.

"Well then how's this for an idea.. how about I meditate with you?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really..?"

He nodded.

Her eyes narrowed. "What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.

Her emerald lover laughed again. "No catch. You want to meditate, I want to spend time with you. Seems like that's an alright solution to me."

She stared at him for a moment, studying his face as she tried to make up her mind.

After a moment of silence she nodded confirmation. "Okay."

Beast Boy's ears perked up. "Really?"

She almost burst out laughing at this display, as it made him look so much like a puppy to her. "Yeah."

"Let's go!" he said happily, grabbing her hand and starting to pull her out the door.

"Beast Boy, wait!"

"What?" he asked, stopping with his hand hovering over the door open button.

Raven pointed down. "Clothes?"

He looked down at his body and realized she was correct. "Oh. Right. Um.. hang on."

And with that he turned around and started digging through the mounds of laundry on his floor and on his furniture, in hopes of finding a clean shirt and pants.

Again, Raven had to restrain herself from laughing. She knew he would enjoy it if she did, but she didn't want to chance wrecking something else, as her emotions were already pretty on edge. Right now she had to keep things bottled up a bit more.

Beast Boy tossed on a shirt, in his haste not noticing that he put it on backwards. The green teen could not locate a pair of underwear, so he threw on a pair of jeans without bothering, grabbing a single sock and putting it on, hopping on one leg over to his awaiting girlfriend.

"Alright let's go!"

She eyed him over, deciding against saying something about his attire. She put it out of her mind and took his hand.

"Hang on tight."

And with that, the cold darkness of her magic engulfed them, and they were gone from his room.

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Playdough tastes really freaking weird. I have some yellow playdough with me. It's salty as hell. What makes it like that?

I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM.

Oh, and I would like to dedicate this chapter to titanfan45. He asked for some more fluff. So.. hope this works!


	14. Meditation

So.. I have an idea for a screenplay..

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As they were traveling from his room to Raven's, the black void that she encased them in chilled Beast Boy to the bone. Moving through the darkness that she conjured was not pleasant in the slightest, he decided. For one thing, everything seemed cold and lifeless. It was as if one was in a dead, barren land. But there was nothing but for the blackness. There was nothing to see. But there was something to hear. There was an eerie humming, and distant screams. Screams of the past, he thought. There was what sounded like children's laughter, hauntingly disturbing and terribly out of place. He felt his stomach knotting up, and he almost vomited.

And then, the next thing he knew, they were standing in the center of Raven's room, as if nothing had happened at all. He knew that it had only taken an instant to arrive, but it felt like much, much longer.

He shivered. "How do you stand travelling like that?" he asked her, trying to regain his balance.

She extended a hand to him to help him steady himself. "You have to remember that I've been doing it for years."

"But how? I'd have given it up if it were me!" he shuddered again, trying to suppress the feelings he experienced just moments earlier.

"You get used to it after a while. Mostly it's a matter of keeping your willpower strong. If you can do that, it won't bother you."

"I'll try and remember that," he said, brushing himself off.

He turned back towards her but found she wasn't in the spot she was a moment ago.

He spun around in a circle, an incredulous look on his face as he tried to locate her. When he looked down, he saw she had sat cross-legged on the ground, and was waiting patiently for him to sit.

Beast Boy plopped down hard onto the ground and wrestled his legs into the proper position. He looked over at Raven and grinned.

"Ready, coach!"

"Okay, first of all, let's have you not ever call me coach again."

He gave her a thumbs up.

"Right. So, close your eyes," she instructed, doing so herself.

The changeling sat with his hands neatly in his lap and closed his eyes, not sure what to expect.

"I've only meditated with someone else a few times before, so it's a little different than when I do it myself," she explained. "Hang on a moment."

Beast Boy felt strangely light and airy, and when he opened his eyes he saw that he was suspended a few feet above the ground. He looked over at Raven and saw that she was withdrawing her hand, and that just a moment ago she had levitated him above the ground so as to hover with her. He smiled and thanked her with a nod.

She gently took his boney green hands in her thin pale ones. He looked up and saw that she was sitting so that she was facing him. She held his hands in her own, and they netted their fingers together.

"Okay.." she said, more to herself than to him. "So.. This is a special variation on my meditation."

"How so?" Beast Boy questioned her.

"Well, this is going to incorporate you as my significant other.. It will use your emotions and mine to calm my mind, and yours.." Seeing his confused face, she tried to explain it with more clarity. "Like.. it's kind of like our minds are one. Your thoughts and emotions will serve as a complement to my own, and will serve the purpose of making the meditation more effective. So I'm kind of depending on you to ensure that this goes well."

The emerald teen gave her an uneasy look. "That sounds like.. kind of a big responsibility."

She gave his hands a reassuring squeeze. "You'll be okay, Gar. Now, c'mon. Close your eyes."

He did as she instructed, biting his lip to stave off nervousness.

She noticed his irregular breathing and squeezed his hands again. "Take a deep breath."

Filling his lungs, he inhaled slowly, and then exhaled, trying to calm himself.

"There you go," she praised. "Now," she started, "I'm going to teach you how to open up that mental link we've shared before."

His eyes opened again. "I can do that?"

She nodded in return. "Close your eyes," she scolded.

He did so, and she took a deep breath. "Now, concentrate. Try to picture me in your mind. Tell me when you've got a clear image of me, okay? Try to block out everything else."

Beast Boy's eyebrows furrowed and he tightly closed his eyes, trying to conjure up a clear mental picture of her.

"You're too tense, it's not going to work," she said. "I can feel the stress coming from you. Relax, okay? Just focus on me." She gave his hands another gentle squeeze.

He inhaled slowly again, trying to let his tension leave. He concentrated on the feeling of Raven's hands in his, her fingers entwined with his own. He focused on the lilac scent of her hair, of the warmth of her skin. He pictured her face in his mind, the image becoming clearer and clearer as he went over her features. Her violet hair, her dark eyes, her lips. In a short time he could picture her just as clearly as if he opened his eyes and stared at her before him.

"Okay.. I think I've got it," he said, trying to remain as focused as possible.

"Alright.. now, extend your mind out to me," Raven said calmly.

"Huh? How do I--?"

"I can't explain it. Just give it a try. You'll know when it happens."

Beast Boy took another deep breath, and then attempted to reach out to the mind of the woman holding his hands. Immediately he met a colossal resistance, like he had just run against a wall. Roiling eddies of force pushed his mind back, and then they suddenly receded, allowing him entrance into her mind. This, he realized, was the mental defense she had built up after so many years of fighting her inner demons.

And then.. nothing. There was silence, and he wasn't sure what to do.

"_Er.. Raven..?" _he called out in his head, not sure if he had even done it properly.

He felt her smile on him, but not just physically. He felt her happiness filling him up, like they were sharing one mind.

_"Hi," _he heard her say back, beaming.

He laughed out loud. "_Woo! I did it!" _

"_Yes, yes, well done, Gar. Now, hold your concentration. We're just getting started."_

_"Seriously? How long do we do this for?"_

She shrugged. "_As long as it takes."_

He groaned.

"_You have to learn to be patient, okay?" _she chided, knowing his hasty nature.

"_Alriiight," _he whined.

Raven then grew silent, concentrating on strengthening the mental connection between Beast Boy and herself. Their breathing became synced, and their hearts began to beat as one. Their minds melded together and there was this feeling of intimacy, unparalleled by anything else on earth.

Beast Boy felt Raven's mind entwined with his own, her thoughts were his and his emotions were hers. He heard her quietly chanting her mantra to center herself, and he listened intently, letting himself focus solely on her. He felt exceedingly tranquil, placid. It was like nothing he had ever experienced.

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A while later, he felt himself coming out of the realm of thought, his mind gradually retracting from that of his lover. His eyes opened and he blinked rapidly, as if shocked he was back in his own head. His concentration slipped and he fell to the ground with a loud thump, rubbing his eyes to readjust to his surroundings. After being so intimate with Raven, he suddenly had an overwhelming sense of loneliness and solitude, and desperately wished he could go back.

Raven touched down to the ground gracefully, and extended a hand to help Beast Boy up.

He gratefully accepted her help, and when he got back to his feet, he looked around the room, seeing that the window overlooking the bay was now darkened.

"Why'd we stop? We just got started," he noted, his eyebrows raised in confusion.

She huffed, the sound almost coming out as a laugh; a slight smile tugged the corners of her grey lips. "Beast Boy, we've been at it for an hour and a half already."

His eyes widened. "What? An hour and a half? It didn't seem more than a few minutes!"

She shrugged. "That's just how it is." Looking up at him, she took his hands again and beamed up at him, looking somewhat proud. "You did really well, Gar," she said.

He grinned down at her and touched his nose to hers. "Of course. Was there ever a doubt?"

"Don't make me answer that," she chuckled.

He stuck out his tongue at her, in a childish, teasing manner. And with that, he leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

After a few moments, she pulled away, biting her lower lip and looking around the room, checking for any signs of damage from her powers.

"Looks like we're okay.." she decided. "Thanks to you," she smiled up at her green boyfriend.

"Do I get some kind of reward for that?" he teased.

She raised her eyebrows and stared at him, bemused. "God, you always ruin the moment, don't you."

"Nah.. not always," he said, picking her up in his arms and walking her over to her bed. When he sat her down, he knelt before her, so as to be at eye level with the pale girl.

"Not this one.." and their lips met softly once more.

"Not this one," she whispered in return, welcoming his kiss.

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Aww.. more fluff. -does the fluff dance- Hey, check me out! 4 posts in 2 days! WHEE! It's like a return to form. Haha, I joke! Anyway, a new dabble in Titanically Random is up as well. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I think it turned out well! Very fluffy, but I feel like a bit of fluff was well overdue. So this chapter and the last one should give you all a healthy dose of it. :)

Alright, going to bed. Night all. I'll throw up the next chapter as soon as I can.


	15. QUICKIE I'M GOING TO COLLEGE WOO

Hey all. This is just a quickie to let you all know I'm leaving for college tommorow! 12 hour flight, plus metro times, and then I have orientation at my school, so I won't post for a few days, maybe a week. Moving into my dorm on the 27th! So see you all in a bit!

**Important author's note at the end. You know the drill.**

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"So.." Beast Boy started. "Are your emotions.. You know.. doing better?"

Raven smiled and nodded. "Yeah.. Doing better."

Beast Boy turned to the window and saw that it was dark out. He lifted up his arm and looked at his watch.

"It's getting late," he noted.

Raven took his wrist and moved it closer to her, tilting her head to read his watch. "Guess we've been at it longer than I thought."

He smiled, inwardly glad that he was able to be a part of her meditation.

"So.. it was good, right? The meditation?"

She smiled and gave her green partner a warm hug, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat in her ear, sighing softly.

"It was the first time I've done that kind of meditation.. It was a special one that's supposed to be shared between soulmates," Raven said, her cheeks tinged a pale pink as she said the last part.

Beast Boy's face lit up, and his ears perked. "You think we're..?"

She gave him a bemused smile. "Beast Boy. You know I'm not used to being a couple. But you're all I have and you make me happy. You're who I choose to be with."

He leaned forward and kissed the chakra on her forehead. "And I couldn't be happier with that," he said.

She gave him a warm embrace, and then let go, walking back to her bed.

He stood there, unsure of what to do. After a moment of weighing his options, he started walking over to Raven's bed to join her.

She raised her eyebrows and looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"I was.. I don't know? I wasn't sure what to do with the cue you gave me," he said sheepishly, scratching his head.

With a flick of her finger, the door to her room slid open, revealing the dimly lit corridor. "Goodnight," she said, settling in.

"So I'm leaving?"

Raven sat up again in bed and lifted an eyebrow, staring at the changeling standing in her room.

"Do I get a kiss?" he asked, grinning as he sauntered over.

She rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time at him, and beckoned him over. Grinning cheekily, he knelt down on her bed and leaned over to her.

"Night," she said, lying back down.

"Night," he chuckled. Before he turned to leave, he pulled the sheets up to Raven's chin and kissed her nose.

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Checking his watch again, Beast Boy saw that it was still only ten pm, and that the others might still be up. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed for the roof, where the other Titans sometimes would go to hang out. Sure enough, when he climbed the stairs to the roof, he found the door open and the string of dim lights illuminated on the roof.

"Hey guys," he called out as he stepped onto the top of Titans Tower.

Cyborg and Robin looked over and waved. They were sitting on the edge of the roof, looking out at the bay and drinking Red Bulls.

Beast Boy plopped down on the edge next to them and grabbed a can.

"So, where've you been all day?" asked Cyborg, chuckling.

The changeling punched him in the arm. "You know where I was. I was with Raven for a few hours."

"Doing what?" teased the titanium teen, waggling his eyebrows and nudging his friend.

Beast Boy narrowed his eyes and glared at him. "Nothing like that. We meditated."

"Sounds thrilling."

He shrugged.

"So.. things are going well between you two?" asked Robin, leaning over.

"Yep!" he cheerfully exclaimed, cracking open the top of his can with his tooth. "How about you and Star?"

"Doing well. We've been talking about moving in," he nodded.

Cyborg abruptly stood up and turned to leave, mumbling as he went. "Everyone. Everyone but me is in a relationship. Even had to get rid of the cat." His voice trailed off as he descended the stairs.

The two remaining Titans watched as their friend disappeared down into the tower.

"Poor guy," said Robin.

"I thought he and Bumblebee were doing well?" inquired Beast Boy.

Robin shrugged. "I think they're taking time off from each other."

"Sucks."

"Yeah. So what are you doing tomorrow, dude? I was thinking we could chill in town," said the team's trusty leader. He nudged his green friend, trying to sell the idea of hanging out.

"Can't dude. I made plans with Raven already," he said, extending his lower lip in a humorous pout.

Robin sighed. "Alright. Suit yourself." He stood up and stretched, turning his head towards the door to the stairs.

"I think I'm gonna turn in. Night, dude."

"Night, Robin."

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I have some fantastic ideas for some stuff. I could fit it in later chapters or I could make them their own story. Anyway, I know the chapters gone kind of slow, but there is an underlying plot to them. Hope you all enjoy them, read the text below, it has an important message.

**Foreshadowing. **Anyway, please excuse the sheer unbridled horribleness of this chapter. I just needed to write something to let you all know I'm leaving for school today. See you all in a week or so, got some work to do! Gotta get adjusted to dorm life and such. I'll still post chapters of 'Titanically Random' every day because I've written out like 15 of them so I don't have to write every day.

See you all in a bit!

HILYR


	16. Strength Together

Well hello all! I'm tired as hell but I'm enjoying college. Sorry I haven't been updating much, been really busy. So a quick update on how everything is going, I'm getting along famously with my dormmates too, and we recently did a Target run to buy nerf guns. I also ran out and bought myself an xbox 360. Oh God. How am I going to do work now.

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Beast Boy was sitting on Raven's lap as a regal looking emerald cat, curled up in a ball and purring quietly. Raven absent mindedly scratched his ear.

It had been a very quiet day, and they had hardly spoken for the whole afternoon. Cyborg drummed his fingers on the table and looked around the room, while Starfire and Robin sat silently on the couch.

Someone sighed. It was a slow day, and they had run out of things to do.

The silence was pierced by a siren sounding abruptly, echoing through the spacious room.

The group immediately leapt to their feet and turned to Robin, waiting for his order.

"Titans! Go!" he shouted out his trademark phrase.

Immediately Raven closed her eyes and chanted her signature mantra. A moment later, they were covered in the darkness that she commanded, ripping through time and space to arrive at the destination where they were needed the most.

It was the H.I.V.E F.I.V.E once more, excluding Jinx, who had joined the Titans some time ago. Upon seeing their nemeses, Billy Numerous grinned widely and gestured to his team.

"Well, would'ja lookit what we got here!" he laughed. "The Titans!"

The H.I.V.E F.I.V.E had been more or less completely under the radar for the past few years. Having suffered multiple defeats at the hands of the Titans in the past, they had taken a long time off to train and to develop strategy and skill to bring the Titans to a defeat.

"I'm going to give you a chance to give up!" called our Robin, twirling his bo-staff in his hand, dropping into a combat ready pose, prepared to strike at the first sign of an attack. He knew they wouldn't surrender, but he always offered a villain the option to go peacefully.

"I think we all know that won't happen, dickweed!" spat out Gizmo, followed by childish laughter and snorting.

Upon saying this, the HIVE group moved closer to each other and bunched up, forming a pyramid of sorts, in preparation for attack.

The Titans readied themselves and took their combat stances, anxiously awaiting for the criminals before them to make the first move.

"HIVE! Attack!" yelled out Gizmo.

The five criminal men before them leapt into action and immediately took an offensive formation in order to score a combined attack on their foes.

Gizmo started chucking small explosives in the direction of the heroes and See More added a fray of floating energy bubbles from his eyes to reduce the room that the Titans had to move.

Immediately taking action, Raven jumped in front of the team and threw up a shield around them, which stopped the explosives but would not protect from See More's hardened gaze.

"_Head's up, Raven!" _came a familiar voice in her head. It was Beast Boy, and he had opened up their mental connection. She felt a sense of pride, having been the one who taught him how. But she turned and ducked out of the way as a feral green wolf charged past her and towards their enemies.

He leapt off the ground, teeth snapping and attempted to close his jaw down on See More, but was instantly knocked away by Mammoth, who jumped in front of his team mate much faster than one would think possible for a man of his size.

The yelping canine slid back across the pavement and slammed into a parked car nearby. Not nearly finished, Mammoth charged after him, intending to finish what he started.

Before he could come close enough to inflict more pain, his legs were bound together beneath him and he fell to the ground, a cord of black energy around his ankles and a bubble of darkness covering both the green man and a blue cloaked woman.

"_Easy there, Gar! I'm going to take down the shield in a second, on my word, charge in at him and I'll back you. Okay?"_

She felt a sense of affirmation from his mind, confirming her plan.

"_Now!"_ the black shield of her energy dropped and he immediately hurled himself at the enormous man. In mid-jump, he transformed himself to a rhinoceros, and the thick skinned creature slammed into the battle-hardened he-man and knocked him back into the rubble they had created.

"_Billy Numerous on your back, Rae!" _his voice sounded in her head. She whipped around instantly at hearing this, hurling a spell instantly, relying entirely on his call. True to his word, Raven had reacted just in time to send the red-clad Texan sprawling back towards his team, merging back into one individual, the other Billies fading.

In the corner of her eye, Raven saw the rest of her team. She suddenly realized that she was off fighting away from the rest of the team. Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin were off a few hundred yards over fighting the HIVE, and she and Beast Boy were extremely close, working as a team. She realized how in sync she and Beast Boy were in combat because of the mental connection that both of them could now initiate, and she suddenly became aware how unorganized the rest of the team now seemed. It felt strange, seeing them in her peripheral vision, and suddenly feeling like she had experienced an epiphany. Raven had never experienced anything like this, and it felt a bit strange.

But there was really no time to ponder the unusual circumstances she found herself in, provided she was in the middle of a fight, and redirected her attention towards the combat.

"Gizmo! Nail them!" called out See-More, firing eye beams at the team. Cyborg was clipped on the shoulder, and crumbled onto the ground. Starfire and Robin were backed in and were holding up back to back, attempting to fight off the HIVE members that circled them. It appeared like they were being overwhelmed, and Raven and Beast Boy acknowledged this mentally, beginning to fight their way over to their comrades.

Effortlessly fighting back their attackers as they advanced to join their teammates, the two moved in sync. A rain of explosives and physical blows from Gizmo and Billy Numerous showered them, but to no avail. The two circled around as they walked across the battlefield, throwing up a shield here, throwing a lamp there. She would sometimes take up the action of using her powers to defend the two, and sometimes the job would go to him, leaping in front of attacks in the form of a heavily armored creature, such as a dinosaur or a thick hided being. They would alternate attacking and defending as they fought over to their friends.

When they reached their comrades, desperately fighting off vicious attacks from the HIVE, the five of them bunched up and joined into formation. Helping Cyborg up, the five buckled down and attempted to score a combined attack.

Even while fighting as a full team, Beast Boy and Raven were distracted, focusing mostly on each other before the rest of the team. One such example of this was Beast Boy allowed Robin to sustain a fairly heavy injury because he went out of his way to instead protect Raven. And throughout the entire battle, the two insisted on casting sideways glances at each other to ensure the other was alright.

The fight was long and dragged out, but ended well for the Titans, defeating their enemies with only a minor amount of injury to themselves.

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"So.. what was that all about?" Robin said bitterly, rubbing his injured neck as he glared at his teammates. His arm was slung over Starfire, who was helping him walk off the field of battle and back to their unusual home.

Cyborg looked over at his team leader. "What?"

"Not you. You two," he said, raising his voice and indicating Beast Boy and Raven, who had been sneaking side glances at each other, not saying much.

"Huh?" Beast Boy asked, looking up. He seemed like he had been broken out of his thoughts, and he looked over at Robin. "What? What's up?"

"What was with the two of you? You didn't leave each other's sides at all that whole fight. You were on each other like glue."

"Well, you know.. we're in a relationship now," Beast Boy said, speaking slowly as he reached for the right words to explain his actions.

"You can't let a relationship get in the way of the duties we have as the Titans. It impairs our ability to do our job, and plus," he said, stopping for a moment and cutting off the path of the two, standing directly before them and keeping them from walking any further.

"Do you realize the liabilities that could cause?" he asked, lowering his voice. "If our enemies found out about you two, they could exploit that--"

Raven cut him off. "We did just fine, Robin. The two of us are old enough to make our own decisions. You don't have to baby-sit us anymore. We know the risks."

"Besides dude," started Beast Boy. "Did you see how much ass the two of us kicked?"

It was Cyborg's turn to interject now. "I wanted to ask about that.. what the hell was going on with you two? You were like.. all over everything the instant it happened."

Beast Boy turned to Raven and grinned widely. She did not make any indication that she had heard Cyborg.

The green man shrugged. "Just a little thing we figured out. Helps us fight better as a team."

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I'm really sorry I didn't write how the fight finished. I'm really, really tired as hell, and I wanted to make this deadline. I'm on a sugar crash after having two Monster Hitmen, and I'm as tired as can be while my hands are twitching like an 8 year old on pixy stix. Hope you guys like this chapter, I'm really excited for the next one. :)

I honestly just wrote this one to get something out there. I was going to make another fluff chapter but I thought this would break it up and add some variety. The point of this chapter, in case you missed it, was to show that simple things that they do together are playing an important part in their lives and changing them as individuals.

P.S Arkham Asylum is fuuuun.


	17. Untitled

Guess what? I lied. Not a new story.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAACK!

Let me take this time to apologize for having this story on ice for so fucking long. I blocked myself into a corner and was really unsure of what to do with the story. But when I was working on a new one, I felt a pang of guilt for abandoning something that had such good reception from the people I write for.

Reading over it again, I realized I could make it work. I just needed a break (granted I took far too long of one .)

But, I'm back. I can't give you an estimate on how often I'll update, because I have a lot of work being jammed into the last part of this semester, but over the summer I'm going home, taking summer classes and getting a job, but I realistically should have a good amount of time. So, just keep an eye out now and then and keep letting me know you guys are out there. :)

I wish I could give each and every one of you a personal thank you, but sadly that would take a really long time :(

Well beloved readers, after.. like 5 months, I give you.. First Date. Resurrected.

-HILYR

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Beast Boy awoke to a ray of sunlight coming through a crack in his blinds, burning his eyes. He reached up an arm to defend himself against the blinding light while swatting for the cord to pull the shades down. In his disabled state, groggy and unable to see, he got too close to the edge of his bed and tumbled off, falling to the floor with a loud thump. He whined quietly in pain and annoyance and held his hands up in attempt to block the light from continuing to torment him. The changeling struggled to free himself from the twisted sheets around him before giving up and letting his arm lie across his face, covering his eyes. He groaned quietly in the silence of his room.

The hapless emerald teen tried to relax and fall back into slumber, but found himself unable to. He swore into his tangled sheets and slowly pulled himself to his feet. Looking around his room, he extended his arms far above his head and arched his back, stretching to bring himself out of the realm of sleep. He was sore from the previous day's fight, and was not ready to start the day.

"What time is it.." he gurgled to himself, looking around for a clock or a watch or some sort. Stumbling around his room, Beast Boy's foot connected with the foot of his bed, and he fell to the ground for the second time that morning.

"Oww.. Damn it," he whined and he rubbed his foot. This wasn't exactly the best start to his day. Not wanting to risk falling down again, he took on the form of a small green guinea pig and waddled across the room. Dodging piles of clothes that were monstrous in comparison to his tiny form he made his way through the mess that he lived in. He grabbed his cell phone off of his desk and sat down against the wall next to his doorway.

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Raven awoke from a dreamless slumber to a low, rhythmic buzzing next to her ear. She did not have the willpower to lift her face off of her pillow, and instead reached out a pale arm towards her bedside table. As her narrow fingers found their way to her alarm clock, she realized that she hadn't set it the night before. In a search for the mysterious disturbance, her hand tapped around the assortment of possessions on the table, knocking books, pens, and small trinkets to the floor until finally coming to the source of the noise: a cell phone, humming quietly through the silence of her room.

She lifted her head and brought the phone closer to her face, eyes blinking darkness away to adjust themselves to the light from the screen. When her eyes could focus on the menace that awoke her from a peaceful slumber, she saw a simple box announcing she had a new text message.

_rae, you up?_

_From Garfield Logan, at 6:16 am_

She sighed and let her head fall back to the bed. She lay motionless and groaned into her pillow, cursing her changeling friend for waking her. Composing herself, she lifted her head up and tapped out a message on the tiny keys of her phone.

_I am now. _

The empathic nineteen-year-old sighed deeply and sat up in her bed, letting her satin sheets slip away, along with any hopes of returning to sleep. Slender white fingers ran through purple hair as the girl stifled a yawn and stretched. Her phone buzzed quietly again, and she tapped the screen to open the text message she received in response.

_did i wake you up? sorry_

_From Garfield Logan, at 6:20 am_

_It's fine,_ she typed back. _Just a moment_

Raven closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, clearing her thoughts. She extended her mind out through the tower, searching for the mind of the green nuisance who disturbed her sleep. When she felt his presence, she extended a tentative jab at his mind . She could easily invade his thoughts if she wanted; he didn't have the mental control to be able to push her out. However, she always offered him the opportunity to reject her mental connection if he so wished.

_"Raven?"_

_"No, it's someone else who can communicate telepathically with you."_

_"Ha-hah," _came his fake laugh in response to her sarcasm. _"What's up?"_

_"You tell me," _came her voice. _"You're the one who woke me up."_

_"I said I was sorry!"_

The violet haired woman swung her legs over the edge of her bed and gingerly extended a foot to the ground, testing it. Her uncarpeted floor was cold, and she quickly pulled back her foot and tucked her legs underneath her body.

As their mental connection had developed to the point that they could share emotions and sensations, Beast Boy felt a surge from Raven's end.

_"What happened?" _he asked.

_"My floor is cold!" _came a somewhat pouty response.

She heard him laugh in her head.

_"Do you want me to come keep you warm?" _he teased.

_"God no," _she said dryly.

_"You know you would."_

_"You have far too much confidence for someone like you," _came her reply. She tossed back her sheets and jumped to the floor, cringing at the cold touch of the ground. She padded across the room over to her bathroom and flicked on the light. Again, her eyes flew shut, pained by the sudden light.

Raven squinted for several uncomfortable seconds, waiting for her eyes to adjust.

_"What do you mean someone like me?" _came his voice in her mind.

She ignored him and opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them and looking over herself in the mirror. She supposed she was attractive enough, thin and slightly toned with a flat stomach and full curves. Her eyes went south and she glanced at her legs, which were long and slender. The woman rotated a bit and glanced at her rear in the mirror. It was shapelier than she would have liked, and she had caught people eyeing it on occasion. She sighed, rolling her eyes and pulling herself away from the mirror. Despite her attractive physical qualities, she was extremely self-conscious and often felt that a body such as hers should be gifted to someone more deserving. _"Oh well," _she thought. She knew how Garfield saw her, and that was what mattered.

Raven reached into the shower and turned the knobs, allowing the water to run. She stepped back and stood on the bathmat to disrobe and allow the water time to warm up. She tugged her shirt over her head and was about to toss it to the ground before she stopped and looked at it.

The empath reached out for Beast Boy's mind again, finding his presence lingering.

_"You still there?" _she called out.

_"Where else would I be?"_

_"I'm wearing your shirt,"_ she said, looking at the white cotton t-shirt in her hands. _"Do you need me to bring it to your room?"_

_"No, that's alright, you can keep it," _came Beast Boy's cheerful voice in her head.

_"Alright. Thank you." _The pale woman folded her sleepwear into a neat pile and put it on her sink, then turned back to the shower, stepping into the hot water.

_"I'm going to take a shower," _she informed the green man she was sharing thoughts with.

_"And you need me to come join you? Come now Raven, you have to control your natural womanly instincts about me."_

_"You're a pervert, and you're out of my head until breakfast. And if you want to shower together again you're going to have to work for it now."_

She could hear him laughing as she terminated their mental connection, and she scoffed to herself.

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Beast Boy smiled to himself and leaned back against his wall. He never did get to talk to her about what was on his mind. He shrugged it off and got up to walk over to his dresser, grabbing a dirty pair of jeans and a purple shirt. The emerald skinned teen looked around his room for a pair of socks, but could only find a sock without a partner.

He slipped it over his hand and folded it between his thumb and his other fingers, forming a mouth.

"Hello there, Beast Boy!" he said in a squeaky falsetto, moving his hand to make his sock puppet appear to talk.

"Hello there, Mr. Hand! How are you today?" he merrily asked his inanimate friend.

"I'm doing just fine! What are you up to toda-okay I need to get out of the house," Beast Boy cut himself off, throwing off the sock and running out of his room.

He jogged down the hall for a few meters before slowing down to a walk.

As he came to the double doors to the common room, Beast Boy ran a hand through his shaggy hair to make himself look presentable just in case anyone was in the room. He punched the button to release the door and stepped into the large common space that he shared with his teammates. The cheerful green joker was all ready to greet his friends, but when the door opened he saw that the room was empty. He exhaled and slumped over, feeling bored already with all of his friends sleeping.

Beast Boy leaned on his elbow and drummed his boney fingers across the marble countertop, bored as could be and unsure what to do until Raven got out of the shower.

"_I know,_" he thought, sitting up. _"I could get a head start on breakfast."_

The changeling got up and approached the fridge, planning on making faux sausage patties and waffles. He was about to start stacking foodstuffs in his arms when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Raven's small, plain tin of chamomile tea packets. He stared for a moment, thinking. His eyes drifted over to the clock and he realized that Raven would be done showering soon and making her way to the common room. Despite being hungry, he smiled to himself and put all his potential breakfast plans back in the fridge. He filled up the teapot with water and put it on the stove to boil, sitting back down at the counter, feeling content with his choice.

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Raven stepped quietly into the common room, absent-mindedly running a simple wooden brush through her violet hair and looking at the ground as she walked.

"Morning," she heard a voice call.

The empath turned to the sound of the familiar voice and, upon seeing the emerald tinged object of her affection, brushed her bangs from her eyes and walked over to him.

"Morning to you too," she said. She glared at him. "You're still a pervert."

Beast Boy placed his hand gently on the back of her neck and brought her closer, delivering a kiss on her forehead. "You'll forgive me in time." He put a warm mug in the pale girl's hands.

Her eyes met his and she allowed a bit of a smile. "It's a start."

She sat down across from him at the counter and sipped her tea quietly. She could feel her cheeks were a bit warm, because every time she looked up from her mug she saw a pair of emerald eyes staring back at her. Raven bowed her head and let her bangs fall down, obscuring her face from the boy across from her.

"Stop it," she said quietly.

"Stop what?" he asked, still studying her.

"You're staring at me," came Raven's shy response. "Stop."

Not hearing a response, the pale teen looked up and saw that the seat before her was empty.

"Beast Boy..?" she called, looking around for the changeling. When she turned completely around, she was startled to find him standing inches from her face, staring back at her with a smile.

"I'm only staring at you because seeing your face makes everything alright in my day," he said, cheeks stained with a hint of red.

Raven shifted in her chair to face her boyfriend, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his.

"Shut up.." she said softly, lightly hitting him in the arm without moving away from him.

Beast Boy didn't respond, but instead closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle and over quickly, but it was more than enough for her.

The feeling of the moment was disturbed by a shattering sound and Raven's mug breaking into several parts, spilling her tea on the countertop and sending ceramic shrapnel flying across the kitchen.

"Shit, shit, shit," Raven growled, grabbing for the roll of paper towels to clean up the spill.

Beast Boy mimicked her actions, dabbing paper towels onto the tea puddle across the counter.

"You alright? Everything okay?" he asked, knowing that the event was caused by a discharge of her power.

Raven covered her face with her palm and rubbed her eyes, sighing.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine.. I haven't had time to meditate in a few days and I guess I'm not as in control as usual," she said wearily.

The shapeshifter before her nodded. "That's alright, Rae. You go take care of that, alright? I'll clean up and let you be for a while."

Raven's eyebrows went up, showing guilt in her face. "You sure?"

Beast Boy smiled his goofy, toothy grin. "Yeah. Go take care of that, I'm not going anywhere."

She stepped forward and gave him a light hug, nuzzling his neck for a moment before pulling away.

"Alright. Thanks. I'll let you know when I'm done, okay?"

"No worries," he reassured her. "I'll have Robin to hang out with anyway, he'll be up soon enough."

Raven smirked. "You know better than that."

He waved off her comment and shooed her out of the room.

As the doors closed behind her, Raven's phone buzzed again. She opened it up and smiled at what she saw on the screen.

_see u tonight, rae. love you_

_From Garfield Logan, at 7:44 am._

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Little plain, little simple, but I've been gone from it for a while so I'm trying to get a feel for this story again. I also have to readjust to the writing style I used. You might notice a bit of a change, but I'm trying my best to keep the story enjoyable for you all.

Feedback is always welcome! You know how to get at me; review or PM or ask me for my IM or email or such.

Next chapter probably will probably be closer to Easter, I have a lot of catching up to do in my classes before the break.


	18. Root of the Problem

BAM. OUT OF NOWHERE, IT'S FIRST FUCKING DATE

OHHHH MY GOD.

READ THE NONSENSE I WROTE AT THE END.

This one is dedicated to everyone that's still with me after all this time!

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Raven padded through the halls towards her room, her head a clouded mess of thoughts and feelings. She needed to meditate much more than she thought, and she knew she had to get a grip on her emotions. She had been putting off her daily meditations, instead opting to spend more time with her green beau.

The empath quickly punched in the access code to her door and stepped inside, drawing away to her room, away from the rest of the world.

She unclasped her cloak and let it fall down her back, pooling on the floor around her ankles. Next, she walked around her room, lighting candles and incense.

Raven took a deep breath, drawing in the lilac scent that now permeated her room, and closed her eyes. Crossing her legs beneath her, she lifted herself up off the floor, and, hovering in place, allowed herself to relax and withdrew within herself.

As she slipped out of the world and into her own mind, she took inhaled deeply again in anticipation for the chaos that would be raging in her thoughts.

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When she arrived in the dark, charred land of Nevermore, Raven was not surprised to see that her emotions were in dissent.

The first thing that happened upon touching down on the desecrated earth was a pink-clad woman barreled down upon her at lightning speed and tackled her to the ground in a crushing hug.

"RAVEN!" cried the emotion known as Happiness.

The psychic teen struggled beneath her brightly colored sub-part, attempting to push her off.

"Happy, get.. _off_.. me!" she growled and shoved her away.

"It's been too long since you've visited!" cried her enthusiastic clone, who jumped back on Raven, hugging her waist and rubbing cheeks with her.

"Goddamnit, stop that!" Raven yelled, tossing away Happiness with a dark tentacle of energy.

Getting back on her feet, she held up a hand to warn the Pink Raven not to come any closer. "Tell me what's going on here," she groaned, stretching out in an attempt to snap her back in place after the spine crushing hug from Happiness.

Happy grabbed Raven's hand and lead her onward, skipping as she dragged behind a very irritated violet-haired Titan.

"Well, as you may well know, you're hearing from me quite a bit lately," Happy giggled.

"Well... yes," Raven admitted. "But you're usually less annoying."

"You kidder," laughed her emotion. "Anyway, everyone's been acting up a lot lately. Especially _Love_," she winked.

Raven winced. She hated Love. She didn't understand her, and she had no idea how to control her. It wasn't usually a problem, because she was usually so quiet and out of mind that she never had to be worried about. Obviously she would be getting a bit more free reign as of late..

"Where are we going," asked an irritable Raven.

"To see Knowledge, silly! She can explain this all much better than I can!" came her emotion's giggle.

"Fantastic. I can at least stand her voice."

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing."

As she was being pulled, Raven caught glimpses of her other emotions out of the corners of her eyes. It seemed everyone was in an uproar. Every emotion of hers seemed to be acting strangely. There was general chaos erupting in her mind.

Finally, Raven's Happiness stopped pulling her along, and they came to a stop before a hooded figure wearing a yellow cloak. They were seated at an old mahogany desk with visible wear, and surrounded by books and bits of parchment. The figure was scribbling on the sheets, dipping a rather pristine quill into a large inkwell.

Raven tugged her hand free from the pink-clad emotion and thanked her with a nod. She responded by blowing her a kiss, laughing giddily to herself, and skipping off. Raven closed her eyes and clenched her fists, taking deep breaths to steady herself. Spending any amount of time at all with Happiness was enough to drive her mad. She felt a vein pulsing in her temple as she ground her teeth, trying to rid her brain of the laughter that echoed in her ears.

"Hello Raven," she heard a voice interrupt her thoughts.

She looked up. The hooded figure before her was still writing, but had not turned back or made any physical sign that Raven was there.

Raven slowly approached her yellow counterpart.

"Knowledge."

The cloaked individual before her finally stopped writing, lifted its head up and turned in its seat to face her. Raven was met with a stare from two deep purple orbs, hidden behind round spectacles. Knowledge's pale lips turned up in a half-smile, and she removed her glasses, wiping them clean on her cape and then placing them once more on her face.

"To what do I owe this visit, Raven?" Her voice made every word sound carefully chosen and deliberate. She gestured towards a large Victorian-era chair next to her desk. Raven walked over to it and sat down, crossing one leg over the other and staring intently at Knowledge.

"Happy," she spat the word out like it was something rotten, "said that you would be the one to come to. That you could explain what's going on here. I mean, I get that it has something to do with me being in a relationship now.."

Knowledge smiled at her again. "Very intuitive. But do you know to what extent it has to do with that?"

"Pardon?"

"Come now, Raven. You know that the reason you're having difficulty controlling your emotions is because of him."

"Well, obviously," Raven huffed. "But it isn't usually this bad. I've usually got a pretty good handle on.." she paused, staring at the yellow clad figure. "All of you."

Knowledge lifted an eyebrow, bemused. "Well.. 'all of us' as you say, no longer wish to be contained. You're allowing yourself to express yourself more than ever. This might not normally be a problem, had you not found yourself developing such strong feelings for someone.." She peered over her spectacles at Raven.

Her face flushed as Beast Boy's face flashed in her mind. A splintering sound erupted through Nevermore, and Raven looked around, bewildered.

"What was that?" she asked incredulously.

Her yellow-caped counterpart smiled at her. "See that? That was your bedside table. You just destroyed it now, thinking about him."

"That doesn't make any sense. I've been just fine up until this point. Why am I suddenly having difficulty keeping my emotions in check? I haven't had any problems expressing myself around him before."

Knowledge sighed. "Well, Raven, I don't have to explain how your powers work to you. They're tied to your emotions. The stronger one of your emotions is, the harder it is for you to keep it in check, and as such harder for you to control your powers."

"That can't be right," Raven frowned. "It doesn't matter how powerful my emotions are, as long as I keep them contained."

Knowledge gave her an incredulous look. "Which is exactly the opposite of what you've been doing. For Azar's sake, Raven, I thought you were intelligent. Or are you completely dysfunctional without my assistance?"

"Well then what am I supposed to do? Should I just meditate more?

Knowledge shifted uncomfortably and looked down, removing her round spectacles and placing them on her desk.

"Raven.. what I'm about to tell you.. you might not like it."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

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Beast Boy drummed his fingers on the countertop, glancing over at the clock.

He was about to give up on anyone waking up soon and just go back to bed when he heard the doors to the commonroom open.

He turned to greet whomever it was, and was met by a waving, tanned alien girl.

"Beast Boy!" called out Starfire cheerfully, gliding over to her friend and embracing him.

The changeling laughed. "Star, we live together. You don't have to hug me every time you see me. I'll be around."

She just laughed and shook her head. "That is not how I greet my friends," she smiled.

"Well, thank you for being the sunshine in my day," he chuckled, returning her hug.

She beamed at him. "What are you doing up at this early hour?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. Got up early and made my way down here. Raven's up too, but she's meditating right now, so you might have to wait a while."

"So... how are you and Raven doing as the coupling?"

"Pretty well, I'd say. Things are going more smoothly than I thought they would."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Starfire inquired, pulling out a stool to join her friend at the counter.

"Well, what with that whole episode she had when everyone found out about us I was a little concerned. Things worked out pretty well though," he explained in a cheery tone.

The Tameranian girl clapped her hands together in excitement. "Excellent! You know Beast Boy," she started, leaning in closer. "I always suspected that Raven and yourself would end up together."

Beast Boy's eyebrows elevated in surprise. "Really? What made you think that?"

Starfire smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. "There was always something about you two."

The changeling looked taken aback. "Really? I mean.. I kind of had a thing for her for a while, but I always thought she hated me."

"Well.. I happen to know that Raven really likes being with you, Beast Boy," she assured him.

His ears perked up slightly more than usual. "Really? She said that?"

She nodded in confirmation.

Beast Boy, feeling on top of the world now, hugged his alien friend. "Thanks a lot, Starfire. You always cheer me up. I'm going to go find Raven right now," he said, practically running out of the room.

Starfire sat there by herself, pleased that she had made her friend so happy. After a moment of thought, she decided to follow Beast Boy's cue, and went to go find her own significant other.

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"The truth is.. these feelings you harbor for that boy.." the emotion in the mustard colored hood took a deep breath. "Are beyond what you are capable of controlling."

A sinking feeling gripped Raven's stomach. "What.. are you saying..?"

Her yellow counterpart lifted her head and looked at her with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Raven."

The telepath shook her head. "No. No, that can't be right. There has to be another way."

A patch of grey came into Raven's peripheral vision, and she turned to face it.

There stood a grey clad Raven doppelganger, hood obscuring her face. She was shivering.

"You're going to have to let him know somehow, Raven."

"No. I'm not. I'm going to find another way to keep myself in check."

Knowledge sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Hello again, my friends. So, the darndest thing happened. I was writing a story, and hit sort of a roadblock with it. I decided, what the hell, I'll read some of my old work. Opened up this story and prepared myself for a crapfest.

I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not exactly sure what I thought was so bad about this story. To be honest, my writing style back then was better than it is now, what with these damn run on sentences I'm prone to spewing out.

Anyway, long story short, re read this, thought "oh damn, girl" and decided to pick up where I left off.

Hopefully some of you guys are still with me!

If you want me to continue with this, reviews really do the trick. :D

Again, sorry this has been on ice for so long!


	19. Zoo

Hey guys. I intended for this to be a long chapter, and I spent a ton of time writing it. When I go to submit it though, I read over it and realize it's pretty short. (although the word count is higher than previous chapters). I could have beefed it up by combining part of next chapter with it, but I decided that the last scene was a good stopping point.

Anyway, the reason I intended for this to be a longer chapter was to make up for the wait and for the fact that this is probably my last update for a little while. I'm doing a bit of traveling for a couple of weeks (in which I unfortunately will not have internet) and then I'm going back to college. I'll update when I can, I just gotta see how the work load is this year. It might be slowed down a little bit as inspiration is being reluctant to strike, but I'm making progress. I've got a lot written out for later chapters, but you know me. I write a skeleton and then add body later. Don't worry though, it won't be another obscenely long wait.

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Raven sat cross legged on her bed, staring blankly into the darkness of her room. Her mind raced with thoughts of what Wisdom said to her as she absent mindedly fingered the silver mirror in her hands. Wisdom's words raced through her head over and over. _You can't be with him, Raven. There's no telling what will happen if this continues. _

_..beyond what you are capable of controlling._ She felt her heart pounding in her ears, her breath coming in shallow.

"There has to be another way," she quietly repeated again.

She sat upright suddenly, remembering that she had a date for that afternoon. The empath bit her lip nervously, weighing her situation. It was just a date, right? Besides, it wasn't even an evening date, there was no risk of.. activities.. that would throw her emotions a curve ball.

"I can keep it under control," she tried to convince herself. Just as she thought of what could happen that afternoon, her bedside lamp flickered on and off, as if on cue. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Azarath.. metrion...zinthos..." The pale sorceress felt her concentration slipping, her mind wandering from its task of meditation. A frustrated sigh was emitted as she opened her eyes again. She knew that it was useless to attempt meditation at that point, as she just wasn't in a proper state of mind.

"Beast Boy.." she said aloud. She was unsure of what to do, whether it would be best to explain her situation to him or to ignore it and hope for the best. As she mulled over her situation, she heard a knock at her door. She became rigid and held breathlessly still, praying that it wasn't who she thought it was. Her fears were confirmed when she heard the familiar voice of her olive skinned paramour.

"Raven, open up, it's me."

The pale skinned young woman knew she couldn't just ignore his knocking. She had told him that she would be meditating, so she obviously would have to be in her room. With a deep breath to calm her nerves, Raven walked across her room to confront the source of her emotional confusion.

The titanium door slid open smoothly and the half-demon girl smiled nervously at Beast Boy, not quite stepping out into the hall.

"Hey you," he said, beaming. "I was just talking to Star, thought I'd come find you and see what you were up to. You wanna hang out? We've got plenty of time to kill before this afternoon."

The calculating gaze of Raven's yellow clad inner self drifted through her thoughts again, and she hastily repelled the image from her mind, feeling a momentary panic. "No," she blurted out quickly. Upon seeing his reaction, she hurried to clarify. "I mean, I have a few things I want to take care of today." It wasn't the greatest cover up, but she was glad that she recovered as well as she did.

"Oh." He sounded a little disappointed. "Alright then. Are we still on for today?"

After a moment of thought, Raven made up her mind. "Yeah. We're still on."

"Awesome," Beast Boy said, perking up a bit. Raven was grateful he seemed to not notice her strange behavior. Sometimes his obliviousness helped out. "I'll come get you later," the changeling said with a wink.

"You know where to find me."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then turned and shifted into the shape of a dog. He barked once, eliciting a smile and an eye roll from Raven, after which he bounded merrily down the hall and through the Tower's corridors. There were always reminders of his goofiness and carefree attitude, and this was definitely one of them. Beast Boy certainly didn't only use his unusual powers for fighting crime, that was for sure. Feeling confident in that the interaction had gone well, and that she hadn't damaged any property, Raven breathed a sigh of relief and retreated back into her domain.

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The day had been going by uneventfully for Beast Boy, who after leaving Raven's room went back to his own domain and took a nap. He awoke several hours later to find that he still had a while before he was supposed to meet Raven, but decided that there was no harm in getting ready a little early. Instead of sitting up and getting out of bed properly, Beast Boy rolled off of his bed onto the floor with a thud. His fall was softened somewhat by the layer of dirty clothes and random clutter that was forever on his floor. Deciding that this was an adequate solution, he rolled around on his side as he looked for a clean outfit to wear. The emerald teen was glad that it didn't take much for him to amuse himself. He tossed aside dirty laundry in hopes of finding something that seemed at least relatively clean. He transformed into a large snake and tunneled through the mounds of garments. The absurdity of his actions made him chuckle, which came out as a low hiss due to his current form.

Eventually Beast Boy stumbled upon a pile of clean clothes that he had neglected to put away in his drawers and shifted back into his lanky human form. The changeling sorted through the apparel that he had found and ultimately decided on a pair of blue jeans and a well-worn Doom Patrol t-shirt that he had kept around for the sake of nostalgia. He gave himself a quick pit check to make sure he smelled alright and gave himself a once-over in the mirror. Deciding that he looked presentable, he flipped off the light in the bathroom and set off towards the common room.

Almost immediately after he stepped into the room, Beast Boy heard footsteps behind him and turned around to find just the person he was waiting for. Raven strode up behind him looking prepared for their date, her hair pulled off to the side. Today she was sporting a green t-shirt and some rather revealing black shorts. On her feet were striped calf-high socks and a pair of sneakers. Starfire had convinced Raven to expand her wardrobe considerably over the past few months, a daunting task. While the more colorful attire took a lot of convincing, it was nothing compared to getting Raven to start wearing skirts and short shorts. It was strange, Raven had no reservations about wearing a leotard as part of her uniform, but would always be reluctant to wear shorts when in civilian clothing. Her friends found it peculiar, but then again, the mind of the team's empath was not an easy one to figure out.

"Hey babe," he greeted her with a smile.

He was met with a cold glare. "I'm not 'babe.'"

"You also said you're not Rae," he pointed out. "But you warmed up to that, didn't you?"

"I'm not wild about that one either, though."

The shapeshifting teen merely laughed and hugged his girlfriend's waist. "Are you ready to go?"

"Not yet. Almost." Raven wandered over to the nearby mirror hanging on the wall and inspected her hair, making a few last minute adjustments.

"So what's the plan for today?" Raven asked, attention still fixed on the mirror.

"We're doing something a little different than usual."

Her eyes drifted from her own reflection to his, a bemused expression on her face. "Do we have a 'usual' kind of date?"

He rolled his eyes at her, inwardly smirking at the role reversal, as usually it was the other way around. "You know what I mean. I'm going to surprise you."

"Beast Boy, does everything have to be a surprise with you? How about you let me know where we're going, just once."

"Can't do that," he taunted in a singsong voice.

Raven turned back towards Beast Boy and crossed her arms over her chest. "Tell me," she whined.

Beast Boy laughed, entertained by her display. It never ceased to amuse him to see her behave in a way outside of her usual serious, aloof manner. The pouting he found particularly hilarious.

"You're just going to have to come with me and find out," he teased.

"What if I won't go unless you tell me?" Raven asked, hoping her threat would work.

"I'm willing to take that chance," he said, unfazed.

"HEY," interrupted a loud voice from the couch. "There are other people in the room," said Cyborg as he turned back from the TV. Robin too twisted to look at the oblivious couple standing on the other side of the room. "Seriously you guys, some of us don't want to hear your cutesy talk."

"Hi Robin, Cyborg," was Raven's response, clearly embarrassed she didn't notice them earlier.

Beast Boy rubbed his neck and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry about that, guys."

Cyborg shook his head at them, his mouth a comical flat line that stretched across his face. Robin said something that was inaudible to the couple, but Cyborg responded to it with a nod.

"We're about to get going anyway, so.." Beast Boy pointed towards the door and flashed them a sheepish grin.

"Have fun," one of their couch-bound teammates called out sardonically.

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As was the norm, the couple chose flight as their method of transit to the unspecified date location. Throughout the travel Raven would pester Beast Boy as to where they were headed, but he remained silent the entire time. Birds can't smile, but Raven could have sworn she almost saw a grin on the beak of the emerald eagle that flew next to her.

Upon finally reaching their destination and touching down on the ground, Beast Boy turned to Raven with his arms spread triumphantly. Raven eyed the large metal sign overhead with a bewildered look on her face. It was decorated with pictures of animals of all sorts and brandished with large, eye catching letters.

"The zoo? Are you serious?" She looked at her date increduously.

"Serious as a heart attack."

"You're kidding," she repeated, staring him down.

Beast Boy responded to Raven's remark by taking her by the hand and leading her onward towards the zoo entrance, ignoring her protests as they went. He was on the skinny side, but Raven was rather petite herself, and could not free herself from his grip and could only go along with him. Beast Boy knew that if she really wanted to, she could escape by means of her powers; he was encouraged knowing that she must have not been totally opposed to this.

The two reached the front gates to the zoo and stopped at a ticketing booth set up close to the entrance. The booth was manned by a plump brunette in a polo shirt who looked to be in her early thirties. Her nametag read 'Lisa.' She smiled at the two teenagers who stood before her. "Hi there, can I help you?"

"Two adults, please," Beast Boy happily chirped.

"More like one adult and one child," muttered Raven under her breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing."

Tickets in hand, the two Titans wandered into the zoo. Well, one wandered, the other one charged ahead like a child in a toy store.

Possessing the ability to assume the form of any animal made Beast Boy very in-tune with earth's creatures, so it was within reason that he was so enthusiastic to be around so many different animals in one place. Raven appreciated his attempt to come up with a unique date idea, but wondered to herself if this was more about his animal obsession. He could barely contain himself as he ran from exhibit to exhibit to stare at the creatures within and try to hold conversations with them. On more than one occasion he would transform into a critter small enough to get into the exhibit, in which upon entering he would shift into the creature currently occupying it. At this particular moment in time Raven was staring blankly at a green toucan that was chattering to its neighbors.

After each one of his little meet and greets with the zoo animals, he would return to Raven with a childish grin on his face and a few words about each animal. He was certainly knowledgeable about the animal kingdom, but Raven wasn't sure she really needed to hear everything about each creature that they walked by. She didn't much mind, though, as she knew it was something he was passionate about and so she let him continue his antics. After a while she managed to get a little into it, telling Beast Boy to ask each animal certain things when he dropped in to pay a visit. Who knew that aardvarks had so much to say?

Eventually the pair found their way over to the larger animal exhibits, much to the delight of the younger of the two. When they came upon a recessed exhibit with large walls to prevent the creatures within from climbing out. The large sunken area was set up to be grassy exhibit with a cave and several logs strewn about the lawn. Several large grizzly bears roamed about inside, indifferent to the observers who photographed them. Two cubs were wrestling in the taller grass, inciting some 'aww's from the crowd.

A mischievous smile played at the corners of Beast Boy's mouth as he watched the furry giants lazily roaming about. Raven's emerald date looked at her with a playful grin, which quickly disappeared as he shifted his form to take the appearance of a bear. The green grizzly sat back on its haunches and growled playfully at the bears in the enclosure, who seemed surprised at the sudden appearance of one of their kin. Several people nearby had been understandably startled and jumped back, but many quickly recognized the city's protectors.

"Hey look! It's Beast Boy!" a young voice called out.

"And Raven too!" accompanied another. Several flashes went off as nearby zoo patrons took photos of the two young heroes.

"Beast Boy, please, people are staring," she hissed, wishing desperately that she was wearing her cloak so as to conceal her face with her hood.

The changeling shifted back into his human form and beamed at the nearby onlookers, waving to admirers and thoroughly enjoying the recognition. Not one to pass up an opportunity to entertain, he transformed into a rhinoceros next, proudly displaying the green tinted horn on his snout. A nearby group of visitors to the zoo cheered and applauded as others rushed over to catch a glimpse.

_Beast Boy, seriously._

Upon hearing the familiar voice in his head, he turned towards the person it belonged to, who was standing nearby looking uncomfortable as several primary school children surrounded her.

"Alright, thank you everybody, that's it for today!" he announced to the spectators, who dispersed with several disappointed sounding comments. When most of the onlookers had left, Beast Boy walked over to the person accompanying him for the afternoon. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically. "C'mon, I know somewhere people won't notice us," he said, pulling Raven along by her arm.

"They wouldn't have noticed us if you hadn't been goofing around like that," she chided as she was dragged behind her date.

"I said I was sorry," he griped, not slowing his pace at all.

The two came upon a large room fashioned in such a way as to look like a cave.

Raven read the wooden sign aloud. "The reptile house?"

"It's so awesome, come on!" he called as he marched ahead into the tunnel. Raven remained outside for a moment longer before sighing to herself and following after her boyfriend. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the exhibit. She saw Beast Boy hanging over a railing up ahead, staring in at a sizable lizard behind a layer of glass. He was practically jumping over the railing, looking very much like a child on Christmas morning.

"Isn't this cool?" he eagerly asked upon Raven walking over to him.

"This isn't really the thrilling experience I thought it would be," she remarked dully.

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her.

"But, yeah. It's pretty neat." Upon hearing this, he smiled triumphantly.

"You know, a normal person would go for dinner and a movie," Raven teased. "You and your surprise dates."

Beast Boy stuck out his tongue at her. "This is better. Plus," he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her towards himself. "We have some privacy in here."

"You know, I'm starting to notice a trend in your surprises."

"Oh? And what would that be?" he inquired.

"They all somehow end up involving getting me alone with you in a dark, secluded place," she said, bemused.

"Now why would I go and do a thing like that?"

"You tell me."

Beast Boy flashed her one of his usual toothy grins. "Maybe I like you or something."

Raven smiled back in return. "Is that right?"

The olive skinned teen next to her shrugged, putting on an innocent face. "Maybe."

His hands dropped down lower, causing Raven's cheeks to be stained a light red. As his hand brushed against her leg, an exhibit sign located close by violently erupted into a black flame.

"I have to go," she said hurriedly, stepping away from him.

"What? Why?"

"I just.. I.. need to do.. something," she said, stumbling over her words as she tried to come up with a reasonable excuse for her sudden exit.

"Okay? Does it have to be now?"

She didn't respond to him, instead choosing to focus on chanting her mantra. A pool of black energy expanded at her feet as she prepared to escape from the scene.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Thanks for taking me out, Beast Boy, I had a lot of fun." As the bewildered teen approached her, a bubble of dark matter grew from the pool at Raven's feet and engulfed the empath. After a moment an enormous raven made of black energy flew through the ceiling and disappeared, leaving no evidence that she had even been there.

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I actually wasn't sure if Beast Boy could talk to animals when I wrote this. I looked it up and it turns out he can in the DC comics universe. Good enough for me, let's assume it's consistent in the show too.

* * *

Thanks for all the +faves and the watches and the traffic and reviews and whatnot! Seriously, it amazes me that First Date is getting this many readers even after all this time! You guys are the best!

As always, feel free to PM me even if you just want to say hi. Even without internet for a couple of weeks I can still respond to PMs from my phone, so don't be shy.

See you all soon!

**HILYR**


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